”We have the freedom to choose,” announced a chorus of teenage girls.
”Freedom to choose, freedom to choose,” answered throngs of boys and girls, representing every state in the nation and 28 foreign countries.
”But do I dare?” came the challenge from a group of young men in the back.
”Dare, dare, dare, dare, dare,” erupted the whispering crowd, which promptly broke into a round of ”The Impossible Dream.”
Clad in matching red windbreakers and royal blue T-shirts, the 270 high school sophomores are dreaming of world unity at the 33rd World Leadership Congress of the Hugh O`Brian Youth Foundation, taking place this week at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
O`Brian starred in ”The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” on television and founded HOBY in 1958 ”to teach young people how to think for
themselves.” O`Brian is on hand at all conference activities to tell the students, ”You must believe in yourself in order to accomplish.”
”Ambassadors” to the congress are selected for their leadership skills and brought together for a series of seminars on topics ranging from medical technology to international marketing. In between, they tour Chicago, meet with dignitaries, and socialize, as only teenagers can.
”All the countries are bonding. It`s magical,” exclaimed Carolann Purcell of Downers Grove. ”It`s like everyone comes together in the whole world.”
Students arrive at the conference armed with memorabilia from their native lands and meet by trading bumper stickers, pins and patches to adorn the windbreakers. They trade ”HOBY hugs,” and greet guests with special cheers and chants.
International delegates from places such as the Soviet Union, China, Singapore and India described Americans as energetic, outspoken, open-minded, spontaneous and talkative, and named food as the thing most different from life back home.
”This fast food,” marveled Natasha Artushina of Moscow. ”You can go, buy it, eat it and that`s it. It`s not like this in Russia.”
”Americans have a kind of passion for ice,” said Artushina`s Soviet comrade, Andrey Nikolaev. ”There`s ice everywhere.”
As they iron out their stereotypes of each other`s countries, the delegates are developing a sense of an international community.
”We are not talking about the problems of my country, we are talking about the problems affecting all mankind,” said Shefali Ajit Lahoti, India`s representative.
The message of unity is embedded in the educational program, but comes through strongest when participants learn, as Kwan Ting Mok of Hong Kong said, ”that all teenagers around the world are basically the same.”
For Assir DaSilva, a Chicago volunteer staff member whose native land is Brazil, that moment came Saturday night, as he watched the students dance aboard a riverboat cruise.
”They all love rock `n` roll,” DaSilva said. ”That`s sort of universal.”
