BY COLIN HICKEY

Staff Writer

Shelley Reed of the Maine Department of Education is deeply involved with the issues and programs surrounding at-risk students and intimately aware that dropping out of school is one path many such students take.

That's why she is excited about the Maine Dropout Prevention Summit scheduled July 27 at the University of Maine.

The event is organized by the Institute for the Study of Students at Risk, Maine Department of Education and the Alternative Education Association of Maine.

Among the team planning the summit are youngsters who have dropped out.

"We want to create more awareness," she said, "and we also want to get youth totally involved with the process."

State officials, corporate representatives, education leaders, nonprofit organizations, state legislators and other elected officials are also part of the planning team.

The following are among the goals for the summit:

* Highlight the efforts going on within the state, develop a branding mechanism that all the efforts to end to the dropout problem can use, and raise broader awareness of the dropout issue in Maine.

* Students will play a prominent role in the summit. Student groups will develop a brand that links Maine's dropout prevention efforts.

* Gov. John Baldacci and Education Commissioner Susan Gendron are expected to speak at the summit and will seek to lay out clear goals, objectives and measures to improve Maine's high school graduation rate.