Olympian's message: Stay on track in life

NORFOLK

As a young athlete growing up in Portsmouth, LaShawn Merritt chose to avoid gangs, steer clear of drugs and stay out of trouble, he told a crowd Saturday.

When he went on to attend East Carolina University on a full track and field scholarship, he chose to train instead of party.

Those choices helped lead him down the path to win two gold medals in track and field in last year's Olympics, the 22-year-old said.

Merritt addressed 300 teens, educators and parents from around the region at the Promoting Healthy Active Teens Conference at Blair Middle School in Norfolk. He encouraged them to set high goals, work hard to achieve them and to avoid negative influences.

"Whatever you want to do, get it done," he said. "Don't let anybody take you off focus, because it's really easy to lose focus, to get off track, and it's hard to get back on."

Not all of his peers followed his example, and some of them ended up in gangs, Merritt said.

"What I don't understand is, growing up we had the same mentors, but my family kept me on the right path," he said. "I chose to be good."

Merritt and his friends didn't have anything like the PHAT Conference, he said.

Local community service organizations, including Jack and Jill of America Inc. and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., started the event three years ago. The goal is to arm teens with the knowledge to make good choices and avoid pitfalls such as getting pregnant or joining a gang, said event coordinator Sonya Smith.

"We want teens to feel empowered to make good decisions about their health and hopefully prevent anything that would cause them future problems," she said. "We feel strongly that if you have good information, then you can make good decisions for your life."

The free event offered workshops for middle school and high school students on self-acceptance, diet, substance abuse, stress, pregnancy prevention and other topics. Parents learned about setting a good example for their children, identifying gang behavior, and understand hip-hop culture.

Andre Hunter, a 16-year-old sophomore at Indian River High School in Chesapeake, tried on a pair of goggles that simulated drunkenness during a session on drugs and alcohol.

He said he'll never drink and drive after that experience.

"It was crazy," Hunter said. "You can be in the middle of the road or something."

Down the hall, Tina Meyers, 38, a mother of three teens, learned the history of hip-hop music. The workshop discussed the positive and negative messages that can be included in song lyrics.

"As a parent, I have to make sure I listen to the lyrics my children listen to," Meyers said later. "You don't want your children to get caught up in the lyrics."

She said more teens should attend events such as the PHAT Conference.

"Even more kids should be exposed to this type of thing," Meyers said. "I thought it was great."

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com