SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STUDENTS GATHER HERE FOR FREEDOM FORUM

About 140 high school students from St. Louis to the Bootheel will get a chance to discuss freedom and free enterprise next week in Cape Girardeau.

The occasion is the annual Missouri Freedom Forum. The three-day forum, which begins Tuesday, will be held at Southeast Missouri State University. Most of the forum sessions will be held at the University Center.

The Cape Girardeau forum is one of two annual forums in the state, sponsored by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and the Farm Bureau. The other is held at Mexico, Mo.

The Cape Girardeau forum, established in 1986, is also sponsored by the local chamber and Southeast Missouri State University.

The forums are designed to provide young Missourians the opportunity to discuss with professional speakers, business leaders, legislators and counselors the basics of the American economic and governmental systems.

"I think the two things we really try to focus on the most is to help give young people better appreciation of the uniqueness of our political system in America, and secondly, the features and uniqueness of our free enterprise system," said Bob Hitzhusen, director of national legislative programs for the Missouri Farm Bureau in Jefferson City.

"I guess our fear is that we have some unique freedoms and we have kind of taken them for granted over the years," he said.

The forums are designed to make "the leaders of tomorrow more aware of our system of government and our system of economics," said Hitzhusen.

Since 1961 when the Mexico forum was established, more than 7,000 high school leaders have participated in the state forums.

Participants are graduates of the 10th, 11th or 12th grades, who are nominated by the superintendent or principal of their respective schools in cooperation with the local sponsoring organizations. Registration begins at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Towers lobby.

"We are trying for it not to be all lectures," said Hitzhusen. The final day of the forum, July 8, will include "Congressional Insight," a half-day computer simulation program.

Participants as a group will make decisions like a freshman member of Congress, explained Hitzhusen. "At the end of the exercise, the member has to stand for re-election. It is really an eye-opener."

Another session will give students a chance to brainstorm on starting a small business in their hometowns.

"I think it gets them thinking in terms of employment, in terms of opportunities in small communities," said Hitzhusen. Such thinking, however, can also apply to the business world in more urban settings, such as St. Louis or Kansas City, he said.

The current system of education at both the high school and college level does little to encourage people to form their own businesses, he said.

Freedom Forum, on the other hand, is designed to encourage student interest in such entrepreneurship, said Hitzhusen.

As part of the Cape Girardeau forum, Alvin Rohrs, president and CEO of Students in Free Enterprise Inc. in Springfield, will speak at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday on the topic of "Freedom: Do We Take It For Granted?"

Students in Free Enterprise Inc. has chapters at a number of higher education institutions across the nation. The goal is to educate the public about the free enterprise system.

At 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, Richard Hardy of the political science department at the University of Missouri-Columbia will discuss "Our Unique Political System."

At 12:45 p.m., David Lankford, vice president of education for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce in Jefferson City, will speak on "Understanding Free Enterprise."

At 7 p.m., Mark McKee, president of Pyramid Pizza in Kansas City, will discuss "Entrepreneurship: Putting Ideas Into Action."

McKee started Pyramid Pizza while a student at the University of Kansas. Currently, the company has five outlets grossing more than $1 million in sales a year. He is also co-founder of Waddles Sportswear. The company manufactures sportswear that is sold to major department stores and mail-order catalogs.

Since childhood, McKee has been involved selling everything from lemonade to water softeners.

The forum will conclude on July 8 with an address by motivational speaker Mindy Hawkins of Cleveland. The speech is entitled, "Making the Most of What You've Got."