Youth : * News for the 18-and-under crowd : IRVINE : Sharing His Vision With a Lifelong Hero

Growing up in Germany, Stefan Lindeman never dreamed he would meet former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, one of his lifelong heroes.

Lindeman, an exchange student now living in Irvine, had the opportunity in September, when he was selected as one of 32 teen-agers to attend a youth summit that was part of the State of the World Forum in San Francisco.

“I think talking to Gorbachev was the best experience of my whole life,” said Lindeman, 17, a senior at University High School. “When I first started talking, I was so nervous I forgot all my English words. But he was friendly, and I calmed down and presented him with my project.”

“The project,” as Lindeman calls it, is his plan to establish a worldwide youth conference, similar to the recent Women’s Conference in Beijing, to gather politically active young people to map out a strategy for the future.

“My goal is to have the youth conference every few years, to make it a permanent institute,” he said. “I want to get young people involved and discuss issues that are also discussed by adults. I would also one day like to see youth representation in the United Nations in the form of advisers.”

Lindeman is writing to corporate leaders and politicians and talking to as many young people as he can to solicit support and ideas for the project, and he hopes to set up a World Wide Web page within a few months.

Lindeman grew up in Bochum, a largely industrial town in the western part of Germany. He was active there in political and environmental groups, and he was student body president at his high school for three years.

On arriving in Orange County four months ago, he was impressed by the variety of leisure activities but has not found a forum in which young people can discuss issues.

“Here in Irvine, there’s not a lot of pubs and cafes, and [in Germany] we do all our work in cafes,” he said. “We have special meeting points, and people get engaged and involved. I see that it’s a problem here. It’s harder to get people together.”

Lindeman said he has found Orange County lags his home country in environmental concerns such as recycling--”You just don’t see soda cans in the markets in Germany,” he said--but is far ahead in education.

“I was surprised to see the level of education and equipment in the school,” he said. “Compared to Germany, . . . learning is more fun.”

After graduation in May, Lindeman plans to return to Germany, where he said he will keep pushing for his international youth forum and working to protect the environment.

The latter “is the biggest issue,” he said. “Other issues are important, but if we don’t take care of the planet, we can’t live anymore.”