EDUCATION : Talks Admonish and Inspire 400 Students : Workshops for ‘at risk’ youths in Pomona schools aim to illustrate the pitfalls of drugs, gangs, violence and teen-age pregnancy.

Standing in front of 20 gum-snapping junior high schoolers, Danny Rodriguez pulled out a beer can, a gang-style bandanna, a gun and a bag of mock marijuana to illustrate the pitfalls that can trip them up over the next few years.

Rodriguez, program manager for the “at risk” students at Pomona Unified School District, delivered his message at several workshops earlier this week to about 400 Pomona junior high school and high school students at the “Peace-Cry” conference at Cal Poly Pomona.

The conference was part of an ongoing program that aims to train youth in conflict intervention and violence prevention, and encourages them to impart that information to peers.

Students received a tour of the campus, and took workshops in sexual assault, teen pregnancy, legal rights for teens and conflict resolution. High school youth who previously participated in the program helped organize and coordinate the event.

“I was eager to have knowledge of self and to bring that knowledge to my brothers and sisters about the trials and tribulations of life,” said Bilah Walk, 18, a senior at Pomona High School.

Offering words that were part inspiration and part admonition, Rodriguez advised students to finish their education and aspire to careers as doctors, lawyers or teachers.

“We raise the level of awareness by providing them with a lot of food for thought,” Rodriguez said. “We’re trying to equip them with one good resource to survive what they’re going through.”

“The classes answered almost all of my questions about life, teen pregnancy and the consequences of taking drugs and smoking,” said seventh-grader Guasmine George, 13. “I learned that education is not a joke, and teen pregnancy shouldn’t be a joke.”

George and other students sat in rapt attention as three 17-year-old moms described what it’s like to tend their babies throughout the night and then groggily get through school the next day. The teen moms told of being ostracized by their classmates and scorned by their families. And they answered questions about what it was like going through labor, and how they had lost a portion of their childhoods they can never retrieve.

“Stay in school, be a teen-ager while you can, and if you do have sex, use a condom,” advised Laray Gomez.

Although many students who participate were barely into their teens, they have already faced problems most adults would be stumped by, said conference coordinator Bernardo Rosa.

“We’re finding that at the middle school, that’s where the most violence is happening and the most amount of gang recruiting is going on,” he said.