Just a few days after the Vermont Legislature wrapped up, a mix of six Senators and Representatives were back in business meeting with a group of high school students to discuss the legal drinking age in Vermont. On Monday, May 17 five CVU High School students welcomed the chance to talk about the minimum legal drinking age and why they felt it was important to keep it at 21. The students all belong to CY-Connecting Youth's high school LEAD group (Leadership, Education, the Anti-Drug). The group organizes prevention activities and encourages peers to make healthy choices.

"This is a really important issue. If the drinking age is lowered to 18, alcohol will trickle down through the high school population," commented Shannon Simmons from Shelburne. Simmons, a CVU high school LEAD student, helped plan the event. "It was really important for us to tell the Legislators, hey, there are kids that don't want this to happen."

Senators Doug Racine, Ginny Lyons, Diane Snelling from Chittenden County and Representatives Joan Lenes (Shelburne), Bill Lippert (Hinesburg), Dave Sharpe (Bristol) attended.

The meeting with Legislators topped off over a month's worth of successful activities organized by CY-Connecting Youth and the LEAD students related to preventing underage drinking. The events began in April as part of National Alcohol Awareness Month. Other activities included participation in a county wide Sticker Shock Campaign, the presentation of "Libby Pearce Drinks" and dialogue night, CVU's Mock Trial, and publicity of the Vermont Department of Health's "Parent Up" campaign to help parents better communicate with their children about the risks of underage drinking.

CY - Connecting Youth is a community based organization dedicated to creating a safe and healthy environment for young people. Operating out of the Chittenden South Supervisory Union, CY serves the communities of Charlotte, Hinesburg, St. George, Shelburne, and Williston and is located online at www.seewhy.info and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/connectingyouth.