It's always interesting to see people outside the element in which you'd normally see them. How do they handle things that appear to be outside their field of expertise?

In the case of some Decatur arts and media folk, I'm pleased to report, the answer is: Quite well, thank you.

Partners in Education's Youth Leadership Institute recently got a look behind the scenes at arts and media in Decatur.

The Youth Leadership Institute, according to the Partners in Education mission statement, "provides high school juniors from throughout Macon County participatory experiences in leadership, business, health care, arts and media, education, government and social services that enhance their knowledge of the community as a whole."

Speaking from personal experience, the 40 or so students are selected through a screening process that can be pretty draining for those selecting. The students fill out an extensive questionnaire. Then all the information that could identify the students is redacted from the questionnaires and they are distributed to a committee. Committee members review the applications and arrive at a meeting with a stack of notes to start giving thumbs up or (reluctant) thumbs down.

One meeting I attended took about four hours as we whittled the pile down to the maximum number of participants allowed. It wasn't pleasant, but it was necessary.

The group is formed and gets together once a month to explore the assorted "experiences" mentioned in the mission statement.

I'm in charge of the "arts and media" day. Essentially all I'm doing is working forward from an excellent model formed years ago by former H&R associate editor and current Quad City Times managing editor Jan Touney.

This year, the group started its day at the Herald & Review, then went to the Decatur Area Arts Council, the new Joyner Radio complex and WAND-TV.

At the H&R, they talked with promotions coordinator Michelle Morthland, business editor Scott Perry, artist Jean Zerfowski, staff writer Alicia Spates and videographer Hugh Sullivan. With what knowledge did they come away?

Our hours are "crazy." At least that's the dominating theme in a video Sullivan put together for our Web site (www.herald-review.com/video/yli07/video.php?v=yli07).

It was with our departure from the H&R that things turned unexpected, and people began to present those different sides.

Sue Powell is the gallery director at the Decatur Area Arts Council, but when the Youth Leadership Institute comes around, she assumes a new role. The woman who's a very public face for arts advocacy in general and the Arts Council in particular reverts to an old role: instructor.

Powell used to be a teacher, and (for the years I've spent watching her work with these groups of young people, anyway) takes delight in giving people the building blocks for appreciation of art.

You know how sometimes you go on a tour and you can recite everything yourself after a couple of trips? I've sat through close to a dozen of Powell's sessions, and they're anything but that. The reason I keep sitting through the sessions is I learn something new each time.

This year, I encouraged a Partners in Education worker who was enthusiastic about Powell's hands-on class to actually participate, and the worker was smiling the rest of the day.

After the Arts Council, the group wandered over to the Joyner Radio complex and got the first public tour of the facility. (They're planning an open house at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 20.) The groups were led around by Lindsay Romano and WSOY morning show host Brian Byers.

Byers, who can be a tiger in the morning with the right provocation, was a pussycat with the youth group. Byers even laughed (although not as hard as I did) when, while he was explaining how prerecorded programming works, one student said, "I knew y'all were lying when you were talking about taking the fifth caller!"

I was thrilled Byers agreed to show the group around, and he didn't even seem to mind when some of the females were more interested in WCZQ DJ SuavA than anything else.

For some, the encounter with SuavA may have outshone the normal highlight of the trip for most of the teens: seeing the newscast set at WAND. News anchors Dawn Sterling and Sean Streaty take some time out of their show preparation to explain their jobs, maybe taking away some of the mystery but adding to the level of interest and fascination.

(To my disappointment, this year no one asked Streaty if he wears pants while broadcasting. He does, but it's fun to see if he tries to lie to the high schoolers, or if they believe him.)

Lee Davis makes friends as he shows the students how to work in front of the green screen for weather, and the members of the group line up for their chance to work in a mirror. (I still can't figure out how they do it.)

My favorite part this year, though, was WAND public affairs director Ken Frye, whose job is basically to do a whole bunch of stuff you don't see but would certainly notice if they weren't done. Frye was on the receiving end of handfuls of cell phones as students scrambled to sit behind the news desk and have their photo taken.

What I hope the students take away, however, is something Sterling said.

Many of the students made comments throughout the day about how "small-town" Decatur is. (You see that remark in the video clip on our Web site.)

Sterling acknowledged the group wasn't in the middle of a large city, but continued:

"You have opportunities here you'd never have in Chicago. You'd never get to do something like you're doing right now in Chicago. In a town the size of Decatur, one person can make a difference. You can make a difference."

For some of these students, Decatur will be too small. It won't offer them the challenges and lifestyle potential they want. But with any luck, Sterling's words will ring true with at least a few of them.

Tim Cain can be reached at timcain@herald-review.com or 421-6908.