By JOHN MARIKOS
VALLEY BUSINESS WEEKLY

September 11, 1997

SALEM - Salem area businesses helped sponsor the International Youth
Environmental Summit that began Sept. 6 and runs through Sept. 15 at
the Capitol building and Willamette University.

Students from six high schools on five continents, including South
Salem High School, have been collaborating via the Internet to hold
the summit.  South Salem teachers, Molly Kellar and Andrew Goldstein,
coordinated the summit.  The other students come from Warnbro High
School in Perth, Australia; Alexander Sinton High School in West
Cape, South Africa; High School for Environmental Studies in Negev,
Israel; Colegio Moyses Chvarts in Recife, Brazil; and Daimon High
School in Toyama, Japan.  The students' goals are to come up with
solutions to selected environmental issues and then promote these
solutions to the United Nations and their respective governments.
The six schools refer to themselves as the 21st Century Schoolhouse.

Local businesses promoted this event to do their part in improving
the environment.

Marriott School Services provides food service to Salem-Keizer
Schools.  The company promotes recycling within the school district.

"I hope the 21st Century Schoolhouse stays in place," said David
Lake, director of Salem's Marriott School Services.  "It's helping us
to expand recycling across the district. We started the recycling
program a couple of years ago.  With students graduating and moving
between schools, long-term student support needs to be there.

"Marriott School Services, on a national level, feels it is
important, as well, to be a part of this program."

Marriott School Services provided $6,500 cash and some food for the
summit.

Fox Blueprinting also sponsored the event, but David Fox, owner of
Fox Blueprinting, felt some concern about his support.

"I'm a little bit worried about how my support might affect my
business," he said.  "A lot of people in Salem feel the
environmentalists are hurting their businesses.  I don't think the
environment should be a political issue.  I can be selfish in my
lifetime, but what about my kids."

Fox Blueprinting provided signs, banners, and badges for the summit.

Seven other companies, including United Airlines, Boise Cascade
Corporations, Viser Communications, In Focus, British Petroleum, AT&T
Wireless Services and Ogden Martin Systems of Marion, Inc. became
major sponsors of the summit by donating $6,500 or more to the event.

Vice President Al Gore praised the student delegates before the event
began.

"This initiative is an outstanding example of how young people, our
leaders of tomorrow, can help us to develop strategies for balancing
growth and environmental sustainability," he said.  "By bringing
students together from diverse cultural backgrounds to address some
of our toughest global issues, The 21st Century Schoolhouse is a good
model of how the Internet can effectively be used in the classroom."

Nike and Collins Pine Company, both from Portland, provided speakers
for the summit. Laila Kaiser, the global environmental education
manager for Nike, will speak Friday, Sept. 12.

"The reason I got involved is I work for Nike's environmental action
team," Ms. Kaiser said.  "The key to a healthier planet is a smarter
classroom."

Collins Pine president and CEO James Quinn spoke on Monday evening,
but he was out of town and unavailable for comment prior to press
time.

Other non-business sponsors for the summit included Western Oregon
University, Willamette University, the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, Marion County Solid Waste Management, and the Sierra
Club.