all success.

"It was great for our students to be able to hear from others who aren't that much older and have just finished the undergraduate experience," he said.

APS Program Coordinator Shannon A. Loscin said the common links between KSG students and students at APS, a program for students considering careers in public service, made the exchange especially beneficial.

"[The KSG students] are models [for Dorchester students] not only because of their minority status, but also because of their career choices," she said.

Janice R. Vaughn, director of the KSG Office of Community and Public Service, agreed that Kennedy School students were natural role models for service-oriented teens.

"There's a natural relationship between those who are promoting public service and the students at the Kennedy school," she said.

For at least one Dorchester student, however, the KSG conference was more than a career exercise. The meeting provided vindication for Dorchester High, a school under attack for its violent students and poor academic quality.

Kisha Lynn Moore, 17, a senior at Dorchester, said that last Friday's conference was an opportunity to show that "Dorchester is not all bad."

"It's really disappointing," she said, "to see The Boston Globe smash Dorchester High School even while we're sitting at Harvard at a conference doing positive things."

Only last Friday, The Boston Globe ran a story describing Dorchester as "the city's worst" high school. Amid poor testing scores and a 50 percent drop-out rate, Dorchester High School's accreditation is at risk.

The APS, however, goes against this trend. The program boasts a 97 percent graduation rate, and helps send 93 percent of its graduates on to some form of post-secondary education.

Students accepted to the APS program must intern at a local service-oriented organization or company, and must perform community service on a regular basis. The 60 students in the program also have KSG mentors who help them with resumes, college applications and academic preparation.