Kids Today: The Future is indeed Bright

There is an old routine by comedian Billy Crystal that bemoans the youth of today as being lazy and not knowing how easy they have it compared to past generations. In the sketch Crystal is dressed like an old man and begins to recount how difficult he had it growing up saying “The kids today do not know how good they have it. When I was a kid I had to walk five miles to school each way up hill both ways.”

The routine, while dated is funny, but in my experience clearly not true. This past weekend was a busy one with wall to wall activities that I was fortunate to attend. Personally, for me it was a weekend that again demonstrated the commitment of our youth to doing the right thing by volunteering to help others. Attending several events gave me the opportunity to witness students in action and it gives me confidence that the future is indeed in very good hands.

Sometimes we hear negative things about the youth of today; how easy life is for them or how kids today are not interested in anything but themselves.  This weekend I saw, again, firsthand numerous examples of how this is simply not true. In short, I got a glimpse of the future and it looks bright in the person of our youth.

On Saturday morning the Town hosted an environmental summit that drew hundreds to Clarkstown South High School. The event was well organized and had scores of volunteers that made it run efficiently. Over fifty Clarkstown South High School students attended the event as volunteers. These students ranged from freshman to seniors and all gave willingly of their time. This is not the first experience I have had seeing student volunteers up close as the PTSA at South partners with my rotary club (Clarktown Sunrise Rotary) for an October pancake breakfast where many students volunteer to help.

A few weeks ago, at our Super Bowl Sunday Pancake Breakfast over a dozen South students again volunteered and made the day so much easier and more successful.  

This past Saturday was such a clear example of the good that our young people do despite many activities they are involved that takes up a good deal of time. Many of these students are also dedicated athletes deeply involved in sports; all of them are focused on doing well academically so they can get into good colleges. They are hard-working students who give of their time to assist many charities and not-for-profits, Saturday is just one example of the good these students accomplish for others.

On Saturday, I thanked a number of these students for volunteering and was able to speak with a couple as they happily worked through the day. I learned from these brief conversations that Saturday is not an anomaly; these kids give of themselves and volunteer frequently. Some volunteer at Meals on Wheels, People to People and Soup Angels as well as numerous other places. The kids do this and juggle other activities and responsibilities with ease all the while preparing for college. According to Susan Solar, the Clarkstown South Staff person who was tasked as the faculty liaison Saturday, “These kids work hard they juggle schedules and volunteer for a variety of activities and events to help others.” I recall, in the past attending several volunteer fairs at South for various not-for-profits, that I was affiliated with to obtain student volunteers. The students came and signed up and they gave of themselves, I never left a volunteer fair without a list of willing students looking to do the right thing and help out. Volunteerism is not singular to Clarkstown South. I could cite countless examples of students in all of our schools who give of thier time freely.

Saturday evening was a different event at Rockland Country Day School with different kids. Saturday was the annual Ice Cream Social to raise funds for the Upper School Student Government programs. The evening was the culmination of two months of hard work. The students wrote and produced an event where they serve ice cream and perform musical numbers and skits in costume. The event this year was based upon “Toy Story 3” and was truly wonderful. These students worked through lunch hours on weekends and after school to write, choreograph and rehearse. All proceeds from the event go to Upper School Government which is used to defray costs for student activities and assist in things like the Michael Fauci Scholarship.

Fauci was a Rockland Country Day School senior who tragically lost his life while on a ski vacation in Italy in February 1996. The scholarship is funded largely through the efforts of current students keeping the memory of a former student alive.  While I am a bit biased, as my wife coordinates the Ice Cream Social event, I was truly impressed by the talent and creativity of these students. Most of all I was impressed with the hard work, amount of time that they put in and frankly the devotion of the students to an event for a cause.

Growing up today is more challenging in many ways than it was when I graduated from Clarkstown South High School in 1983. The kids today face many struggles and challenges that unlike Billy Crystal’s complaints my generation did not seem to face. The demands of sports and academics never seem to end; yet, these students give freely of their time and talent to help others. The events I saw this weekend are not atypical. In fact, they are prototypical in my experience of the young people in our community.

This weekend for me was a reaffirmation of this truth, namely, kids today don’t have it easy, but the vast majority take time to help others. Whether it is the RCDS students taking lunch hours, working after school and on weekends to write, rehearse and produce a show for charity; or students at South helping with pancake breakfasts, and especially the fifty plus students who gave most of this past Saturday to help the Town do an event. The efforts of these and so many other young people in our community are reason to believe that the future is indeed bright.