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Last Wednesday, about three dozen students spent their morning describing some ideas they think will make their schools better.

After spending a few days at Alamance Youth Leadership Academy at Elon University, seventh-graders from Burlington Day School, Turrentine , Graham and Hawfields middle schools presented their ideas on school improvement to school officials and their parents.

"Each school developed three concepts," said Rex Waters , the associate dean of students at the university and the academy's coordinator.

"The (concepts) will go through the schools' improvement teams and the students will work with the administration and the teams to implement them," he said.

In cooperation with administrators, the students will select one proposal as a common project for the 2008- 09 school year.

Students identified such problems as the lack of landscaping and old uniforms and mascot costumes.

The fact that the students can recognize those issues is impressive, Waters said. "They impress you with their energy and enthusiasm, and they really care about what goes on in their school."

Waters said the students draw enthusiasm and energy from their peers from other schools.

Connecting with students, personnel and community members from other schools is a large part of the program, said Randy Bridges , the superintendent of the Alamance Burlington School System.

"This highlights the fact that our youth is everybody's business," he said about the program.

This was the sixth year for the program. In past years, students developed outdoor clean up and recycling activities, worked to help with the purchase of a new mascot and standardized school colors.

"This is a great opportunity to engage these youths in leadership opportunities," Bridges said.

Because participation in the academy is a yearlong commitment, Waters said he's looking to add a school every year.

"We want to make sure we can provide for the whole program," he said.

Until then, there is something that people in the community should keep in mind about all students, not only those students in the program, he said.

"They have a lot of potential and they need mentors," he said.

Contact Tiffany S. Jones at 449-4731 or tiffany.jones@news-record.com