Showing teens their power
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Thursday, October 18, 2007 | 
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Victoria Johnson
Standard-Examiner staff
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By Victoria Johnson
Standard-Examiner staff
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By Victoria Johnson
Standard-Examiner staff
OGDEN -- Mary Kaye Huntsman wants young people to feel the power.
The first lady spoke to hundreds of junior high and high school students at the Dee Events Center on Wednesday morning about self-esteem and helping those in need.
Other speakers included Gov. Jon Huntsman, KSL's Whit Johnson and former Jazz star Thurl Bailey, with musical and dance performances by Bailey, Jericho Road, Colours in Motion and McCall Clark of High School Musical 2.
The speakers told of their own trials growing up, and how they overcame those struggles to achieve their current success. Gov. Huntsman recalled losing the student body election races in both 11th and 12th grades and later meeting Mary Kaye, who also lost the student body races in her last two years of high school.
"We were just a couple of losers," the governor quipped.
Johnson, a 25-year-old reporter for KSL, opened up about a suicide attempt that landed him in a California mental institution seven years ago and his subsequent turnaround. He has since built a successful broadcast career working for TV stations in San Francisco, Washington state and now Utah.
"Something in me made me want to live," he told the crowd.
The presentation is billed as a "high-energy, high-tech conference for teens," and indeed the bright lights, loud music, short video clips and fast-paced speeches seemed geared toward the young mind.
During the presentation, the crowd's response was enthusiastic, with loud applause and plenty of whoops and hollers. After the event, reviews were mixed.
"It's basically the same thing we've been hearing the whole time but with different words," Two Rivers High School senior Brandon Jeffers said. "But the basketball player was cool."
"It was all right. It just kind of dragged on," Roy High School senior Nick Bowman said.
Still, the majority of the students seemed at least somewhat enthused by the morning's events, and some approached the first lady and other participants for photos and autographs afterward.
"I really liked it," Weber High School junior Courtney Hess said. "There was a lot of things to take back to our high school to change it today -- hopefully we can."
Mary Kaye Huntsman said she started Power in You because she was inspired by the peer support her daughter Liddy received when, at 8 years old, she was diagnosed with diabetes. The first lady decided to apply that "kid-to-kid, heart-to-heart" model to Power in You and to encourage young people to help other young people.
"I am very passionate about youth," she said, "and having my own teens, I see their ups and downs ... this is all about youth service."
As to whether such events make a difference in teens' lives, Huntsman said, "I sure hope so."
The Power in You program is now in its third year.
Other stops on this year's tour included the Burns Arena in St. George on Oct. 9 and the E Center in West Valley City on Oct. 24.
Students from area schools are bused in for one large presentation at a central location. The tour also makes stops for individual school assemblies.
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