COUNTYWIDE : 3-Day Seminar Gives Students Direction

By the end of the weekend, 15-year-old Leslie Rhee knew what she wanted to do in life.

The Mission Viejo High School sophomore had determined to start her own organization to help disadvantaged youth.

Like Rhee, about 139 sophomores from Southern California high schools had career paths on their minds over the last few days. All attended the Hugh O’Brian Youth Foundation Leadership Seminar, a three-day event created by the star of TV’s “Wyatt Earp” to bring students face to face with business, industry, education and government leaders and to show them how the American incentive system works.

For many students, selected to attend the seminar for their leadership activities in high school, the event at Chapman College in Orange gave them an extra dose of self-confidence and motivation.

“The greatest thing about this program is that it teaches that you can be who you want to be,” Rhee said.

While the sessions, such as “Advertising and Marketing in the 1990s” and “Starting Your Own Business,” sounded like they came from the Harvard Business School, students said the classes helped them think for themselves. And students were more than willing to begin considering their planned professions, even with much of high school and college ahead of them.

“If you want to be a success in life, surround yourself with people who are smarter or more talented than you,” Don Krampe, president of a Long Beach investment firm, told Rhee’s seminar group. “You will learn from them.”

“You can do anything you want to, have anything you want to, be anyone if you believe in yourself,” said Krampe, who is O’Brian’s brother. “Don’t let anyone steal your dream.”

His message, often repeated over the weekend, got across. One speaker asked students if any wanted to be president. About a dozen raised their hands.

The weekend included a talent show and dance, as well as seminars by leaders from such companies as Western Digital Corp., Rusty Pelican Restaurants, McDonnell Douglas Pacific and Asia Ltd. and The Times Orange County Edition. Students also played the Reward Game, a mock version of Wall Street.

Two students, Adil Karim of Point Loma High School, and Carrie Hemphill of Los Alamitos High School, were chosen to attend an international leadership seminar in Minneapolis next month.

Many of the students, who said they differ from their peers in that they are more concerned about their futures, said the weekend gave them a refreshing chance to meet people with the same mind-set.

“We all know where we’re going to go,” said Jennifer Hartman, 15, of Carlsbad High School. “We all want something in life. We don’t want to just sit on the beach and eat.”

Hartman and Rhee, along with other members of their seminar group, chatted Sunday outside an auditorium at the college, reiterating what they plan to do after high school. Hartman said she hopes to go to either Stanford University or the University of Washington to study to be a pediatrician specializing in childhood diseases. After this weekend, she has few reservations about the prospect of eight to 10 years of college.

“I was kind of nervous about going to school for that long,” Hartman said, “but not now.”

Jeff Koehn, 16, of Moreno Valley High School said he had planned to seek a job at an engineering or architectural firm. Not anymore.

“I was going to be an engineer,” he said. “Now I’m more open to business. I’m more open to starting my own engineering business or architectural firm.”