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Teens gather to pledge purity
By ROBERT KING
© St. Petersburg Times, SPRING LAKE -- Sex, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. When it comes to teenage temptation, they are the Big Four. Like generations of high school students who have gone before them, today's teens face the allure of adolescent vice every day. But instead of simply giving in, a fledgling group of Hernando County teens is taking a stand against such temptations. They are even going so far as to sign a contract binding them to an avoidance of drugs, alcohol, tobacco and premarital sex. What's more, students in the group, known as the Hernando Teen Advisors, are taking their campaign for purity to their classmates in the county's middle and high schools. On Saturday, the group of 22 teens, all high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, came together at the Lakewood Retreat, a Christian camp off Spring Lake Highway, to build unity for their cause and sign their contracts. "We get out there and tell everyone in school that not everyone is smoking and having sex," said Angele Patrie, 16, a junior at Springstead High School. "There are people that make fun of us because we are not going along with the crowd. But that's okay," she said. "Sometimes their opinion changes after they get to know us." The Hernando Teen Advisors formed two years ago as a local chapter of a larger national Teen Advisors movement that began in 1987 in Columbus, Ga. The nonprofit group became one of President George Bush's thousand points of lights. Hernando's group is an outreach effort of A Woman's Resource Center, a Brooksville-based organization that provides services and counseling to women and families facing unplanned pregnancies. Adults from the resource center conduct abstinence programs in the county's middle and high schools. But some of the center's most persuasive advocates for abstinence are the Teen Advisors, whose enthusiasm for the cause seems to feed off itself. The contract asks members to report themselves to an Honor Council of upperclassmen in the group should they break any part of the contract. "It's really easy to spread a message of purity when everybody (here) agrees on it," said Shaun Konstant, an 18-year-old senior at Springstead High. "We really find strength in numbers. Hernando Teen Advisors is open to any teen willing to sign the one-year contract and make themselves open to the accountability of their peers in the group. But its message, particularly that of sexual purity, has a distinct Judeo-Christian flavor that at times gave Saturday's retreat the sound of a Christian youth gathering. There was a prayer circle before lunch, contemporary Christian music blaring from the radio and Bible verses rolling off the lips of the students. Before encountering the Teen Advisors, Brittany Teele, a 15-year-old sophomore at Hernando High, said she had already made a promise to herself and to God to abstain from sex, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. But she acknowledges that high school, almost by definition, makes that a tough promise to keep. "There's a lot of pressure, and it's everywhere. But Philippians 4:13 says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," she said. "We're standing up for what is right. In the end, it's going to prevail." Aside from the team-building retreats, the Teen Advisors take part in activities such as lake parties, picnics, skating and laser tag. Konstant, who became a Christian in January, said he has watched several of his longtime classmates give in to drugs and alcohol. Some have even acknowledged losing their virginity. "Some of them don't realize that it hurts them," Konstant said. "We just want to show others that there is joy in being pure." - Staff writer Robert King covers education in Hernando County and can be reached at 754-6127. Send e-mail to rking@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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