The Hearthstone Manor on Dick Road in Depew was the site of "Bright Ideas," the thirteenth annual Red Ribbon Teen Leadership Conference hosted by WNY United.  Over 150 high school students and teachers who actively undertake substance abuse prevention projects attended the event on October 4.  Nineteen different schools were represented from urban, suburban, and rural Western New York.  Among the schools sending teams were Hutch Tech, Iroquois, Immaculata, Barker, Lake Shore, Friendship, Brocton, Chautauqua Lake, Eden, Holland, Iroquois, Lackawanna, Leonardo Da Vinci, North Collins, Oakfield-Alabama, Pavilion, Pembroke, Seneca, Springville, and Ripley.

The conference exposed the youth in attendance to strategies for Red Ribbon Week and throughout the year that could make a positive impact on attitudes concerning substance abuse and other unhealthy or risky behaviors.  After a keynote presentation by WNY United Prevention Specialist, Catherine Flanagan, the students were broken up into smaller workshop groups to undertake physical team-building challenges and share the many successful activities they have completed in the past.  One of the highlights of the conference was a lunch keynote presentation by WIVB-TV news anchor Mylous Hairston who emphasized the importance of the work the students were doing.  Before the day was finished, each school group had completed one action plan for this year's Red Ribbon Week and another action plan for a more ambitious project to take place later in the school year.