Youth Town Hall Conference
Posted by South Mountain Villager on July 8, 2009
The first Youth Town Hall (YTH) conference on “Marijuana and Its consequences” organized by Southwest Behavioral Health (SBH), Community Youth Development Program was a success! This event was held on May 5th at South Mountain Community College and 84 student’s grades 6th-8th from 8 different schools from the Roosevelt School District attended. Peer leaders from Cesar Chavez, Maxine O. Bush and Sierra Vista had been meeting together since January to prepare, help organize and lead the event. They put together the Youth Town Hall flyers, they decided on the teambuilding activity (The Arrows) they would lead with the students, they came up with their speeches and roles at the conference and practiced, practiced, and practiced. The culminating point being the conference where they volunteered their day to set up the rooms and to welcome students and present at the conference. It was a wonderful experience for them to get involved and to see their efforts of almost half a year unfold. Peer leaders involved in the process deserve to be recognized for their dedication and hard work. We are proud of you!
The highlights of the YTH conference were the speakers. Special agent Melissa Lee, from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), led a workshop on the “Impact of Marijuana on the South Mountain Community”. Pamela Neal, Juvenile Probation Officer for Maricopa County Juvenile Probation Department presented on “The Legal Consequences of Marijuana Use”.
Students really enjoyed their experience judging by their comments. One Sierra Vista student said “What I liked most was that I learned so many different things”, one Julian student said “The conference taught me things I didn’t know”, one Bernard Black said “I learned a lot about drugs, very informative”, and one Cesar Chavez students said “I liked everything”.
Maria Covarrubias, 6th grade Peer Leader from Maxine O. Bush School said “Personally, I think that we got a lot of kids thinking twice before trying marijuana and that maybe they can encourage their friends not to do marijuana”. See you all at our Second Annual Youth Town Hall conference at South Mountain Community College on April 28th, 2010!
We would like to extend our gratitude and thanks to our founders and donators Magellan of Arizona, South Mountain Community College and the Roosevelt School District for making this Youth Town Hall conference possible.
