US Student Holds Youth Summit

4/14/2009

Fiona Reilly

The first Greater Cleveland Black Male Youth Leadership Summit was recently held at University School's Shaker Heights Campus. Created and coordinated by Gregory Groves, 18, a senior at University School, the summit aimed to enlighten, encourage, and empower black high school males by providing them with leadership skills that will improve their lives and the lives of others in the community.

About 100 African-American young men from more than 20 public and independent high schools in the Greater Cleveland area attended. Keynote speakers included: The Honorable Frank Jackson, Mayor of the City of Cleveland; Peter Lawson Jones, Cuyahoga County Commissioner, and Bishop Romey Cole of The Church of the Lion of Judah.

“The goal of the summit was to bring together motivated black male youths from the Cleveland area and teach them about the critical issues we face today,” Greg explained, “such as the disparity in education. Participants were assigned to breakout groups to formulate their own action plans for addressing a particular issue. The group with the best plan received $100.”

Local radio talk show host, Basheer Jones, and Wallace Green, a probation officer and treatment coordinator at the Cleveland Municipal Court, spoke at several breakout sessions.

Greg said he came up with the idea for the conference after attending the Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Boston, and a leadership conference presented by award-winning broadcaster, Tavis Smiley, in Los Angeles, last summer.

“I was so inspired by these conferences that I decided to replicate them for young, African-American men here in Cleveland,” Greg said. I chose to focus on black males because, as a whole, we are struggling but I want it to be known that there are motivated black males out there who are leaders and intellectuals."

Gregory created the summit as a project with University School’s Strnad Fellowship Program, which enables talented underclassmen to pursue advanced independent projects of research, study, or inquiry well beyond the usual.

Gregory was recently inducted into US’s Cum Laude Society and will be attending Princeton University in the fall.

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