Oanh H. Maroney, M.A.

As the turn of the century rapidly approaches, there is much concern about how our society's advanced technology will impact us. The past several years have also yielded increased concern about our youth and their future. Some of this concern focuses on the quality of schools and education. Other concerns are with issues such as drugs, violence and teen pregnancy. While these are all valid and critical concerns, our focus needs to be drawn away from the viewpoint that things are “so bad,” to a conversation about how to improve circumstances for our young people and our nation.

The Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program

Changing traditional viewpoints and making a difference for youth is the aim of the Intercultural Development Research Association's (IDRA) Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program. The program has been doing just that since its inception in 1984. Believing that all children are valuable; none is expendable, the program takes secondary students who are considered to be at-risk of dropping out of school and places them as tutors of elementary students, enabling the older students to make a difference in the lives of the younger students. The positive recognition, instruction and support provided by the program helps the tutors stay and do better in school. Currently, in the 1998-99 school year, the program is running in 17 cities in the continental United States, as well as in Puerto Rico, Great Britain and Brazil.

One important element of the program is leadership development. Each school year, students are provided numerous opportunities for leadership development. The academic tutoring structure itself provides the tutors with a unique perspective by which to develop character and academic and leadership skills. In addition to the tutoring component, the students also have the chance to meet various leaders and role models from throughout their communities.

When possible, the students participate in a Youth Leadership Day. IDRA works with program site teacher coordinators and administrators to plan and conduct district-wide, region-wide, interstate and, sometimes, international Youth Leadership Days. In some instances, it is possible for students to travel short distances to participate in in-person workshops and activities. In other cases, we are able to facilitate communication and learning between program sites via e-mail and video conference technology. It is always the support of the school and district officials, as well as others in the community, that make the Youth Leadership Days possible and successful.

Valleywide Youth Leadership Day

On March 26, 1999, more than 386 middle and high school students from Texas' Rio Grande Valley gathered at the South Padre Island Convention Center for what proved to be a unique, challenging and fun-filled experience. The students came together from their 17 respective campuses in Brownsville Independent School District (ISD), La Joya ISD, McAllen ISD and Mission ISD. In doing so, they had an opportunity to meet many of their peers with whom they form part of an international network of young people who are beating the odds.

The session was made possible by the support of officials from the 17 schools and four district offices, as well as logistical and financial support from the San Benito and McAllen branches of the Valley Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Inc. The support provided by all of these entities reaffirms the necessity and value of recognizing our young people and providing them with opportunities to enhance their educational experience.

The objectives for the event were for the students to do the following:

• experience working in teams and define the importance of teamwork;
• analyze what is needed for a team to succeed at a task;
• define what the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program means to them; and
• work as a team with students from other campuses.

The students participated in several leadership development activities throughout the day. All of the activities required that students collaborate with their team members to achieve a given task. For each activity, the participants were given the goal for the task at hand, basic instructions and the materials they needed to accomplish the task. In addition, most of the exercises were timed, which further facilitated teamwork and leadership within the small groups. All of the activities required that the participants think and problem solve in creative ways.

Examples of activities included: (1) creating a solid structure from drinking straws and masking tape and explaining how it represents the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program and (2) tutors untangling themselves from a “human knot” without letting go of one another's hands.

One of the highlights was the closing session. During the course of the day, the student groups were given time to create, develop and prepare a creative presentation of some sort (banner, song, skit, etc.) to share with the entire group during a “show and tell” closing session. Every member of the group was included in each small groups' presentation on teamwork and leadership to the larger group.

Creative presentations included: poetry, dramatic acts, rap songs and a human pyramid. The closing session – and, indeed, the entire day – was a wonderful opportunity for the tutors to acknowledge and reaffirm themselves, their teachers and the students that they tutor. In doing so, the value of the task that they perform as tutors greatly increases.

At the end of the leadership day, students were asked to share the “highs” and “lows” of the day with the other members of their small group. Prior to their departure, they were also asked to complete and submit a formal evaluation of the day and the activities presented. Overall, the participants offered very positive feedback about the session and remain excited and optimistic about continued opportunities to meet, learn with and learn from their Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program network peers.

Thinking About Change

So often, young people find themselves as players in a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure because their schools do not believe in the inherent ability of every child to learn. However, schools should not bear the burden of blame all alone. As a society, we have instilled a “survival of the fittest” approach into our normal routine of thinking and acting. Such an approach leads us to forget about and, often times, even deny the intrinsic value of each individual. We are not all the same, but we each deserve comparable opportunities to learn and to achieve our full potential.

The Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program stands out as a leader in providing such opportunities. The program takes students whom our society has cast down and given up on and gives them a new prophecy to fulfill – a prophecy of success. And while the majority of valued youth initially are not honor students or elected student body leaders, they are still some of the best and brightest, in their own right. In fact, many students who started out in the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program have gone from being “truants” and “troublemakers” to being campus leaders, honor students, and role models.

Over the course of the program's 15 years of implementation, we have heard wonderful stories and testimonies of how the lives of thousands of students have been changed forever because someone simply took the time and effort to say, “I believe in you.” The program has impacted more than 68,500 students, parents, teachers and administrators, in turn impacting the communities they live in.

As the new millennium comes upon us – less than 200 days remain in 1999 – our nation needs to take a more pro-active approach to developing and nurturing our young generation of leaders – the entire generation. It is not enough to be satisfied with culling only a few of the many and nurturing their talents and dreams. Nor is it acceptable to continue to allow one child – even one – to grow up without an opportunity to achieve.

One final thought. Here and there, I have seen items and heard discussions that focus on the nation's changing population demographics (including age) and raise concerns about today's generation of young people being the bread-winners and social security providers for tomorrow's generation of older citizens. I have to wonder how it is that we – knowing that these youth will be our sustainers someday – can continue to devalue them and deem even one of them expendable. I do not know the answer. However, I can foresee what the result will be if our society does not change its outdated mode of thinking. Efforts like the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program brighten our future.

Oanh H. Maroney, M.A., is an IDRA research assistant and administrative assistant to the IDRA executive director. Comments and questions may be directed to her via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

[©1999, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the IDRA Newsletter by the Intercultural Development Research Association. Every effort has been made to maintain the content in its original form. However, accompanying charts and graphs may not be provided here. To receive a copy of the original article by mail or fax, please fill out our information request and feedback form. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]