From a group of four community leaders getting together for a well-attended townwide workshop in March to a consistent leadership team of adults and youth, students have now caught the ball and are running with it.

Local high school students are becoming active in the various projects meant to increase safety and support for the teens in the community, partnering with adults to head up project teams.

Those projects include promoting and supporting local bands; creating a youth skatepark, a youth commission and an under-21 coffeehouse/nightclub; and expanding communication with high schoolers.

Adults are also taking an active role, handling projects such as a freshman parent skills forum, parent networks and mentors, a neighbor-to-neighbor program and a police information column in local newspapers.

Community coach Andrea Schneider said a benefit of the project is having "adults and kids working together purposefully. I'm very happy to see that not only is that happening but they're comfortable doing it." Schneider added that the collaboration is unique and "very impressive."

The projects are currently in their exploratory stages, where organizers are doing research to see if the ideas are plausible. "There are some wonderful ideas, many of which do not take large amounts of money to do," Schneider said. "Some of the ideas are pretty concrete, very doable. I want to make sure that they're not redundant."

"I'm definitely looking forward to getting some things done," said Los Gatos High School junior Chiara Kramer. Kramer said she is impressed that police officers, local government, other community leaders and students have been involved throughout the process. "I'm really amazed to see how many people are there," Kramer said.

The "Alive ... and Loving Life" organization was formed after Los Gatos High senior Eric Quesada died following a drunken driving car crash involving an underage driver. The group started with community dialogue but aims to make concrete changes that will prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.

The leadership group—members of the community of different ages who became involved before and after the March 8 community workshop—has now broken off into five cluster groups, each of which has several key projects and project leaders. The five cluster topics are: "Cops and Kids"; "Parents and Other Caring Adults"; "Teens and School"; "Youth Commission"; and "Passion to Be Alive and Loving Life."

One consistent theme that arose from the March 8 event is the youth population's need for a hangout that is not a youth center and is open late into the night.

As a result, one group of teens is looking to establish some kind of club for those under 21. Los Gatos High freshman Jacqui Kemp said the vision is for a facility in downtown Los Gatos that would serve as a coffeehouse or venue for open mic sessions and poetry readings in the early evening and dancing and music at night.

Kemp said the club could be primarily for high schoolers and have one night a week for middle school students; if the club used an existing facility, however, it could possibly just be open one night a week.

Leigh High School junior Negin Saei said the under-21 club would be "open late at night, when we have nowhere to go." Saei said, "It's so youth involved that it's something we can look to other than going to parties."

"I thought having more things to do would just benefit everybody," said Los Gatos High junior Ali Cohen. "I'm new to Los Gatos and I find it really boring," Cohen said, adding that there's nothing for teens to do in town and alternative activities must be available "other than hanging out at other people's houses and drinking."

Another potential outlet for teens is music. A music-focused project group is looking into building a recording studio at the Los Gatos Outhouse for student bands to use and record CDs; holding concerts with varied musical styles; asking local music stores to offer student rates on album purchases; and presenting events such as open mic nights and a spinning/DJing competition.

Teens also could increase their involvement in the community with a youth commission or task force that would allow the youth to have a voice in town council decisions.

"Right now, the youth of Los Gatos and San Jose don't think we can do anything about things like the curfew," Saei said. With a youth commission, teenagers could be represented in town government and give input on items that go before the council.

Other projects have also been proposed to educate and inform parents, to increase communication between police and the community, and to promote merchant involvement with teens. Complete project listings and lists of upcoming meetings are available at www.lghs.net/aliveandloving.