PORTLAND—Members of the Portland Youth Commission who attended the Texas Youth Advisory Commission Summit on March 6-7 in Mesquite said they received many great ideas and were inspired by the enthusiasm exhibited by their peers in other Texas cities.

The Portland Youth Commission members who attended the summit were Candy Beltran, Drew Davis, Sasha Dinsdale, Patrick Dooley, Shannon Novak, Nathan Vance, Aaron Ward, and John Weidner. Portland City Council members Cathy Skurow and John Vilo also attended the state-wide event, which was sponsored by the Texas Municipal League.

“To me it really felt like we were a group and by the end of the trip we were all talking about future ideas for the youth and ways to get the community involved,” said Ms. Novak, who serves as the commission’s liaison to the City Council. “In a workshop I attended I got to hear from the other youth commissions in Texas. This really was exciting because the kids didn’t really seem to be any different than our commission.”

“I enjoyed being able to network with other commissions,” said Mr. Dooley, treasurer of Portland’s Youth Commission. “We learned about how they run their meetings and activities they’ve sponsored. They showed us pictures of their events and gave us a lot of good ideas.”

Organizers said the purpose of the summit was to allow cities to share the experiences of their Youth Advisory Commissions (YACs) and the impact they make on each community. The summit schedule included workshops, speakers, team building games, a talent show, and a community service project. Some of the workshop topics included “Serving as a City,” “The ABC’s of YAC,” “Leading by Example,” and “Yaking with YAC.”

The Portland Youth Commission, which was appointed last October, meets twice a month. The members have formulated by-laws, elected officers and discussed plans for several projects.

Four of the members, along with Ms. Skurow and Mr. Vilo, attended the “Choose to Care” Community Drug Awareness Forum on March 25 at Gregory-Portland High School. The forum, which is being supported by GPISD, the City of Portland and the Portland Chamber of Commerce, addressed drug and alcohol problems in schools, workplaces and the community. Ms. Skurow said she asked people who attended the forum for ideas on how they can help plan youth activities. She said she was pleased with the responses she received and she will forward them to the Youth Commission members.