The second youth was another success that focused on
leadership, diversity, social media, physical wellness and community service. By
the second session some of the returning students know one another better and
are more comfortable with the staff. This was an extremely interactive session
with different activities. We had the students make a pizza, not literally but
figuratively speaking, and we separated the students into random groups. We
asked the students questions for example, “What’s your favorite holiday song?” “What
are your favorite foods?” “What are your career interest?” Each part of the
pizza rather you where “cheese” or “sauce” had to share their answers. We sang
our favorite holiday songs aloud; it was a good icebreaker to let everyone know
a little bit more about each other.
The second youth council session focused heavily on physical
wellness so a fellow student here at Clarion University taught the students an
interactive work out dance and also told them about different work outs they
could do while watching their favorite TV shows. For example, while watching
the TV show “Teen Wolf” you could do twenty sit-ups every time Scott turns into
a werewolf.
We also had a speaker come in and discuss the pros and cons
of social media. She told students to be
cautious of what they put on the internet because it will forever remain
there. Social media is a new phenomenon
but it was important to tell students that some potential employers can and will
check your Facebook or Twitter accounts. We also assigned the
students the challenge of finding community service and coming up with ways to
get involved in their communities.
I was in charge of the diversity aspect of this particular
youth council. Diversity is my first love. I had the students fill out a
thirteen question survey and go around getting signatures from the people who
have done anything in the survey, for example, if someone was bilingual they
could sign their name next to that slot. I like to stress that diversity is not
only racial but it is also cultural, social, sexual orientation based etc. Race
is one aspect of diversity but it is not the only aspect. I had the students
come up in groups with their own definitions of diversity, race and gender. We
had an open discussion about what they think diversity is, increasing diversity
awareness in their neighborhoods and being accepting of diversity in all forms.
