By Mary O’KEEFE

Family love and support, positive communication and a caring educational system for your child may seem like obvious goals in raising a child but there are others that might not be as obvious, like having other adult mentors.

“Having another adult is really important,” said Jennielyn Bazan, Crescenta Valley High School student.

Bazan and other middle and high school students who attended Tuesday’s Fire House youth center spoke to CVW about the 40 Developmental Assets that were developed by the Search Institute.

The Assets will be discussed at a Community and Family Summit on March 14 at CVHS at the MacDonald Auditorium. The program will include speaker Clay Roberts and is sponsored by the CV Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition.

“There are certain things kids might not want to go to their parents with,” said Dylan Sylvester.

“Sometimes if your parents work, they are so stressed you don’t want to talk to them and [add more stress],” said Anthony Stuart.

In a roundtable discussion, the kids agreed that having parent, school and community support was important. They also said that programs like the Fire House, a community program that is one of the Assets, was also important.

Over the past several weeks CVDAPC board members Nancy Stone and Linda Evans brought the 40 Assets program to PTAs at elementary, middle and high schools. They have been laying the groundwork with several other organizations as well.

Roberts has been a keynote speaker at over 700 international and national community events. He has been featured on NBC’s “Today Show” as a prevention expert and author including co-authoring “Building Developmental Assets in School Communities” with Neal Starkman, Search Institute.

Former CVHS principal Evans, who has attended several seminars in her long educational career, has high praise for Roberts.

“Over my 38 years of teaching, I have attended several [seminars with several speakers]. I found that Clay was the most inspirational of all,” she said.

The summit is not just for parents of teens, but for all ages of children from toddlers to college and beyond.

For those teens at the Fire House, when asked their opinion if they think more education on teen communication was something parents should attend, the response was a unanimous “Yes.”

The event will be held at the CVHS MacDonald Auditorium, 4400 Ramsdell Ave. in La Crescenta from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

CVDAPC will also be hosting free childcare that will be provided at First Baptist Church of La Crescenta. For those who would like childcare, RSVP by calling (818) 249-5832 or email info@fbclc.org.