The Southern Utah Youth Leadership Summit on June 3-5 brought together 100 youth from diverse organizations and several surrounding communities to the campus of Dixie State College for three days of fun, hard work and inspiration.

Youth Summit Steering Committee members chose the theme of "Stand Tall and Reach" for the Youth Summit. Workshop presenters like Brad Barton, Verne Larsen and Rhythm of Life reinforced the S.T.A.R. theme with motivational speeches that kept their audiences spellbound. The Summit wasn't just all play and great food. On Friday, participants tackled several service projects including the daunting task of unloading hundreds of boxes of supplies for the Governor's Literacy Backpacks.

Youth and adults were able to assemble nearly 1,000 of the backpacks which will be distributed to Spanish speaking parents throughout the state, encouraging them to make reading to their children twenty minutes a day a priority in their homes.

Other service activities included painting toy cars for children in third world countries through the Happy Factory program; creating hygiene kits to be distributed to those in need on the Navajo reservation; becoming trainers for the Rhythms of Life program to train other youth in after-school programs; and visiting residents of St. George Care and Rehabilitation.

Another highlight of the Summit was the Friday night talent show which featured a dozen youth singing and performing solos and group numbers on guitar, piano and sax, followed by a dance.

On Saturday, the Steve and Lisa James Family impressed Summit attendees with their patriotic musical renditions and inspiring messages of being your best and reaching for the stars. "The Southern Utah Youth Summit was awesome!" reported Kathy Hyde. "I am so glad I was able to attend and see the results of everyone's hard work and great ideas! Congratulations to all of you in Southern Utah on a very successful Summit, hopefully the first of many annual events."