To the editor:

How to build good citizens for tomorrow? This is a question asked frequently. Are teaching values the answer? Are good educators important? Are good parenting skills needed? Are community members involved? Is the media important? What life skills are important? Where do we begin? We begin knowing that “it takes a village” for many people to share their knowledge, skills, time, and support to help make productive citizens.

Our teens in the Houghton, Baraga and Keweenaw area are a product of their family, school, community, country, and world. We have terrific teens in our community who learn through a variety of methods at home, school, church, youth organizations, sports, community groups, and the web. A Tech professor said, “I can always tell the students who have been in youth organizations like 4-H, Boy Scouts, or Girl Scouts because they are able to take problems, work through them, and solve them.”

I know of teens who do an incredible amount of service learning and community service with children and adults of all ages. There are many groups who help the environment or take leads in youth government. Teens learn service and leadership through the areas listed above.

So how do we build good citizens for tomorrow? We educate them in the importance of voting, leadership, service, the laws of the area in which they live and about the world around them. One example is The League of Women Voters of the Copper County and Houghton/Keweenaw 4-H volunteers put on two well-received leadership/citizenship workshops in 2015 with support from MSUE, Finlandia and CCISD. This year the league and 4-H team up to facilitate another Citizenship/ Leadership Workshop on March 15, at the CCISD, on Helca street, Hancock, from 4-7 p.m. with the same supporting groups. Youth may register by calling the MSUE office at 482-5830 or email adoracat@anr.msu.edu.

Carol Kreher

Houghton