Role Models

People often say children need role models other than their parents and teachers. But where are they supposed to find them? River Hill High School sophomore Shelby Yu has taken it upon herself to bring role models to the kids. Using a grant she obtained from the Governor's Office on Service and Volunteerism, Shelby is the organizer and host of Howard County's first student-led conference tonight at the Meeting House in Oakland Mills. Shelby, 15, established the Howard County Student Conferences to let teen-agers from across the county meet with notable community members and others, discuss important topics and share ideas.

Should professional athletes be role models for kids? Why is there even a question? Whether we want them to be or not, they are. And whether they want to be or not, they are. When I was growing up, I wanted to play tennis like Billie Jean King. My stepson, Jordan (Jordy to his friends), is named for Michael Jordan and wants to play basketball like the late NBA Hall of Famer "Pistol" Pete Maravich or Dirk Nowitzki, currently of the Dallas Mavericks.. Professional athletes have everything kids want: skill, talent, popularity and money.

A WASHINGTON WIZARDS player is arrested on a charge of marijuana possession after being stopped by a traffic officer. A teacher passes out in a school restroom, allegedly from a heroin overdose. Guess which elicited more outrage?Judging from the attention paid to the travails of all-star basketball player Chris Webber, we know that people expect much from their role models who wear sneakers to work. Judging from the dearth of reaction about Howard County's Garrett M. Bradley, it's uncertain what they expect of teachers.

Despite receiving a national character education award yesterday, students and faculty at South Carroll High School aren't celebrating. "We announced it to the students and congratulated them because this award is theirs. But we've tried not to make too big a deal of it because it's the behavior we expect and the behavior we feel the students expect for themselves," Assistant Principal John Seaman said. "We shouldn't get too excited about doing the right thing, but at the same time, it's nice to have it recognized by someone else."

Despite receiving a national character education award yesterday, students and faculty at South Carroll High School aren't celebrating. "We announced it to the students and congratulated them because this award is theirs. But we've tried not to make too big a deal of it because it's the behavior we expect and the behavior we feel the students expect for themselves," Assistant Principal John Seaman said. "We shouldn't get too excited about doing the right thing, but at the same time, it's nice to have it recognized by someone else."

Unlike most inner-city youths, the game of basketball gave Arundel High School boys basketball coach Gerald Moore a chance to see the world.By playing collegiate and professional basketball on four different continents, Moore has come in contact with many prominent blackmale role models. But the four he places above all others either work or live in Anne Arundel County.Arundel girls basketball coach/teacher Lee Rogers, Arundel JuniorHigh School principal Clifton Prince, North County assistant boys basketball coach Al Pindell and Annapolis Youth Athletic Association president Leslie Stanton are considered by the 32-year-old Washington native as his favorite black male examples.

It's not easy being a boy in the '90s. Two decades of divorce frenzies, absent fathers, changing social attitudes and blurred gender roles have left American males more confused than ever about their self-image.Should they eat quiche? Should they act macho? Or should they wander into the woods to beat drums and hug each other?Time was, boys could look to their fathers or to the movies for role models. In the '50s, Marlon Brando, James Dean and other rebels without a creed helped define a generation's masculinity.

Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and Will Smith are celebrities and, some would argue, role models for youngsters. But the likelihood that most youths would have an opportunity to seek advice from them is close to nil. That is one of the reasons it is important that children emulate positive people within their families, said Carolyn Jordan Alexander, adviser to the Black Student Union at Atholton High School. "Too many young people don't know their history, and if children could identify with those who came before them, they wouldn't do negative things," she said.

When Marilyn Van Derbur Atler shares her tale of incest, people respond with confidences of their own.The 1958 Miss America received a letter from a 73-year-old woman who, after reading about Ms. Van Derbur, told a friend that she was a victim of incest.It was the first time the woman had shared her trauma with anyone, Ms. Van Derbur said."It's going on in every community in America," she said in a telephone interview from her home in Denver. "[Incest] survivors are beginning to understand now it is safer to come forward."

Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend told a gathering of mostly female employees at the U.S. Coast Guard Yard yesterday that women working in male-dominated fields must be aggressive in fighting preconceptions about women in the workplace. "You have to teach people their own prejudices, and that's hard to do," she told the gathering of about 60. "If there's any real message in this, it's that you have to believe in yourself. But it's hard all by yourself." The Curtis Bay station invited Townsend to speak as part of its Federal Women's Program, which has been active in the Coast Guard since the 1970s.