High school students will pack Courtroom No. 1 in the county courthouse on March 20 for the second annual Schuylkill County Youth Summit.
Last year, more than 150 students from 16 school districts, technical institutions and universities in the county participated along with business, community and legislative leaders to discuss how the youth can help make Schuylkill County a better place to work, play and raise families.
Students have been working with the organizers since then to plan this year's event.
"It's their summit," county Commissioner Gary J. Hess said Monday. "We give them the canvas and they paint. Together, hopefully they can make an effective change."
Hess spearheaded the project along with his fellow commissioners plus Schuylkill County's VISION and other community organizations, legislative offices and business associations. The goal is to get students involved in their communities.
"It has definitely grown (since last year)," Hess said. "More groups have come on board. They see the importance of it and want to contribute."
The Panther Valley and Hazleton Area school districts will join the summit this year. In Schuylkill County, Panther Valley encompasses Coaldale while Hazleton includes McAdoo borough and Kline, North Union and East Union townships in Schuylkill County.
Brad Gotshall, a 23-year-old member of the Frackville Borough Council, will be the guest speaker.
Hess said Gotshall was asked to speak to the students "to show the perspective of someone that young who is getting involved in the community."
Gotshall will talk to the students while they have lunch at the Salvation Army across the street from the courthouse.
Gotshall was first elected to the council at age 18. He was also the Republican candidate for the county clerk of courts in 2011, but was unsuccessful.
"The youth is energetic and we have ideas," Gotshall said. "If given this kind of spotlight, we can really do great things."
Gotshall currently is a clerk typist in the county treasurer's office and majoring in public policy at Penn State Harrisburg.
He said the only way to make a change is to get involved and that is what the youth summit is encouraging students to do.
"I think a program like this is a nice way to bridge the gap between education and government," Gotshall said.
The summit will start at 9 a.m. with orientation and then students will give short presentations on the progress of the projects they started last year after the summit. Each participating school had its own project.
At 9:45, students will split into three sections to discuss the most important issues in the county they identified as part of a survey. The subjects will be about quality of life, jobs and public safety. Local leaders will help guide them on projects to address these issues.
After lunch, students will participate in a mock borough council meeting. The day will wrap up about 2 p.m. with a presentation by the Schuylkill County SCORE about how students can acquire funding for their projects.
Schuylkill SCORE is a branch of the Reading SCORE chapter and part of SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business," a national nonprofit association dedicated to entrepreneur education and the formation, growth and success of the nation's small businesses, according to its website at www.schuylkillcountyscore.com.