Warren Hills Peer Leadership hosted the fifth annual Teen Summit in mid-October with Peer Leaders from Phillipsburg High School, Hackettstown High School and Belvidere High School attending.

The Summit was led by keynote guest Keith Hawkins, a motivational speaker and California native who was inspired to help others by his turbulent and violent upbringing in the streets of Los Angeles.His approach is rooted in encouraging personal growth and viewing personal insecurities as an inherent part of growing up, rather than weaknesses.

Despite the fact that Peer Leaders were allowed to bring a student guest from their school to the summit, Hawkins forced the audience members to interact with other audience members they had never met before. With a heavy emphasis on pushing his audience outside of their collective comfort zones, the peer leaders and their guests found themselves in a jumbled assortment of Warren Hills, Hackettstown, Phillipsburg, and Belvidere students.

“I like the fact that we’re up and moving and meeting new people. It allows us to get out of our comfort zones,” said Phillipsburg High School senior Grace McCanally.

The audience was divided into groups of four and quickly became acquainted with the people they would be spending the rest of the day with.

While most of the Peer Leaders found themselves well outside their comfort zones, they still responded positively to Hawkins’s approach.

“I like that it’s more than just a guy preaching to us. We can get involved and meet new people,” said Hackettstown senior Shannon Miller.

The mood dipped dramatically when Hawkins encouraged the students to open themselves up to their groups; to expose the obstacles that have shaped their characters to people they had met not four hours beforehand.  The laughter and comradery that filled the auditorium that morning excused itself, and a low, solemn collective mutter crept across the angular panels that lined the room.

After an appropriate amount of time, Hawkins moved to a period where he opened the microphone to the Peer Leaders themselves, so they could discuss anything they wanted to expose to their constituents.

The length of this period will remain unknown just as the confessions and revelations will remain undisclosed. Nonetheless, as each individual spoke of their trials and tribulations, the room was filled with an atmosphere of unity and catharsis.

After every student who wished to speak was able to, the audience members traded goodbyes with their groups as they regrouped with their schools.

Belvidere junior Lauren Tordik summed up the collective thoughts of the group.

“It was a great environment full of amazing people,” she said.