Students from across the Black Hills were not only learning how to live a healthy lifestyle but how to be leaders as well. This is the 14th year for the Stand Against a Violent Environment or the S.A.V.E. program. Students are not only taught about the importance of saying no to drugs and alcohol, but they also get lessons in personal leadership and growth. Students are then asked to take their new found leadership skills beyond the classroom and put them into use in the community. Carl Olson says, "Why do businessmen go to conventions?Why do doctors go to conventions?I think students and teachers are no different. We have to bring ideas together so they can have this exchange of ideas. There's so much creativity in this room.So in a setting like this, if we can get them to create something, who knows where it's going to go." There will be a similar workshop for teachers and anyone who works with kids Wednesday at the Surbeck Center Ballroom at the South Dakota School of Mines.

Jim Peterson