Blog Archives: July 2012
Without Limits Kicks Off in Denver
The National Youth Leadership Council and EarthForce would like to invite you to a community kick-off event to learn about The 24th Annual National Service-Learning Conference®, Without Limits.
Join us to learn about this exciting international event happening in Denver, Colo, March 13 – 15, 2013 and how your organization can play a role in making it a success. Come and network, meet like-minded individuals, recommend workshops, speakers, entertainers, or service-learning project ideas. Also learn about ways you and your organization can be involved by presenting a workshop, showcasing your service-learning project, exhibiting, host a meeting, and becoming an Affiliate or sponsor of the conference. Be entered into a drawing for great prizes including a complimentary registration to the conference!
Without Limits Kick-off Event
Tuesday, August 14
4:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.
Hyatt Regency Denver
650 15th Street, Denver, CO 80202
RSVP to teckberg@nylc.org by Wednesday, August 8.
The National Service-Learning Conference gathers an audience of an estimated 1,200 educators and 1,000 young people to participate in three days of plenary & thought leader sessions, showcases, and workshops. They also address local needs, both on-site and off-site, through service projects that range from tree-planting, to eyeglass restoration, to home and church renovation.
The Conference puts its belief in youth leadership in action, authentically engaging hundreds of young people as presenters, planning committee members, emcees, and volunteers. The dynamic play between energy and enthusiasm brought by youth and the wisdom brought by leaders in the field distinguishes the unique opportunities afforded by the Conference.
We sincerely hope that you will consider joining us at the kick-off event to share your ideas, vision, and leadership. Can't make it? Send someone from your staff to join us. We also encourage you to share this invitation with other members of your community — everyone is welcome!
We look forward to seeing you in Denver.
Sincerely,
Amy Meuers
Marketing and Communications Director
My Week As Resource Staff For NYLT
Resource staff is the skin that wraps around all the activities of National Youth Leadership Training and protects it from every obstacle fate can send. As a part of the resource staff, I can influence the emotions and ideas of campers to lead them towards the goal of finishing this week with something worth remembering. The best time to strike is right as the sun is beginning to rise. The best alarm is the entire youthfulness of the resource staff. I love how we all agree the best way to get up sleepy campers is banging on doors and screaming, with a side of Jock Jams. I like how we on resource staff have to be organized and adaptable; communication is key to getting things done at the last minute. The campers this year are unique. It might be the smaller number of them, but they are all best friends. They are always positive too; during the entire immersion experience they were enthusiastic and their spirits only increased every time a mistake was made. The joy on their faces to finally have a shower was quite hilarious.
My primary job at NYLT is taking video and photos. The head of the tech team, Lana Peterson, is constantly telling me to “get in there” and capture the action going on. I feel there is a different style to standing stationary with a video camera and dancing around with a regular camera. This year we have me, Lana, and another youth, Nick, capturing video. I sometimes wonder what I should capture because I don’t want to intrude on some private conversations. I do miss some activities sometimes, but I join in whenever I can because I want the best of both worlds. The campers’ primary groups have their own bond which is stronger than that of the feeling of the campers as a whole. Generally, though, the campers are happy to have their picture taken and frozen for eternity.
At night we had an amazing photographer come tell us about his work. Wing Young Huie takes pictures of scenes and challenges people to say the first thing they think of. He also asks people if he can take a picture of them with a small chalkboard. His subjects pose with a quote they write on the board, answering questions such as “What advice would you give a stranger?” Huie’s presentation was slightly directed towards acceptance of different cultures and what makes you a human being. Like everything else at NYLT, it was an experience which brought all the participants, including me, closer.
It’s a fun time hanging out with the other staff at night. Resource staff wake up first and sleep last, but that’s part of the fun. We have amazing talks at night, sometimes about geese. Although we aren’t as involved with the deep listening activities as the other NYLT members, we still do deep listening at night and reflect. The resource staff family keeps growing as more members fly in to help, but space isn’t an issue for us.
Nchinda is a member of the NYLC Youth Advisory Council
Growth, Reflection, and the Start of NYLT 2012!
The National Youth Leadership Training is an experience I look forward to annually. For my third NYLT, the excitement and anticipation for this special week has yet to diminish. Three days of staff training prepared us all for the campers’ arrival on-site to the Audubon Center of the North Woods’ wetlands.
When they arrived, campers hesitantly departed the bus as anxious staffers cheered and energized the crowd. After leading a couple of ice breaking games, I sat back to enjoy watching this group of strangers create their first connections with one another. The first of many.
It’s so hard to believe that this is my third year in the company of NYLC for the National Youth Leadership Training! With 2011-2012 as my last term on NYLC’s Youth Advisory Council, this week is a bittersweet reminder of the special relationships I have formed with beautiful people, and the life lessons that have contributed to much of my “growing up” these past couple of years. I can’t help but tear up when I reflect on how great of an impact NYLT has had on my life, and realize I am witnessing lives changing in front of my eyes on the very first day of camp.
I’m thrilled to tackle the rest of camp as I challenge the campers to think in ways they’ve never thought before. Sending the campers off to Immersion, I put myself in the camper’s shoes where I was in 2010, I put myself in the Assistant Group Leader’s shoes where I was in 2011, and now, as resource staff, I await the obstacles I will face in a different role. I’m super excited to take on the week!
NYLT Begins: Immersion
The first day of National Youth Leadership Training is all about preparing for the upcoming week. It's a physical day of hikes and a ropes course designed to bring the group together while setting a groundwork of open hearts and minds ready for still bigger challenges. This year we have participants from 18 different schools and as far away as Texas, North Carolina, and Maryland. By the end of the week they will recognize today as the first day of some new life-long friendships, along with stories of hot Minnesota summers and mosquitos.
SADD Conference Reflection
80-degree weather, warm ocean breeze, students, advisors, and super-hero excitement! Last month, Mandy Traaseth and I joined nearly 400 SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) youth leaders and their adult advisors from around the U.S. at the 2012 SADD National Conference in Torrance, Calif. As the nation’s leading peer-to-peer youth education, prevention, and activism organization, SADD’s 27th annual conference empowers young people to lead initiatives in their schools and communities that encourage prevention education and create a positive effect on the lives of their peers. SADD is a great organization that aligns well with Project Ignition — a student-led teen driver safety program funded by State Farm® and coordinated by the National Youth Leadership Council.
During the conference, I had the privilege of leading a workshop with students from two amazing Project Ignition schools — Harry D. Jacobs High School (IL) and Shelton High School (WA). Not only did these students share their experience with teen driver safety through their involvement in Project Ignition, but were also tremendous advocates for service-learning, explaining how the teaching method helped them take charge of their education and made the experience more meaningful. Together we shared best practices to improve teen driver safety in communities and offered information on how to become involved in Project Ignition by applying for a grant available August 15, 2012.
The highlight of the conference for me was when the mother of one of our youth leaders came up to me following our workshop to thank me, NYLC, and State Farm for this “amazing program.” Through Project Ignition, she said, her daughter came out of her shell, has taken on challenges she never thought possible, and truly grown as a young woman. She couldn’t even finish her sentiment because she was overwhelmed with emotion.
It’s moments like these when I know that my job and the program I work for are really making a difference. It may not always be an easy task to document our impact in reports, but the stories we hear from the parents whose son’s and daughter’s lives are forever changed let us catch a glimpse of our true impact.
Without Limits: the 2013 National Service-Learning Conference
The National Youth Leadership Council is pleased to announce that FrontRange Earth Force has signed on as the 2013 National Service-Learning Conference co-host. Based in Denver, Colo., Earth Force is passionate about young people finding their voice and taking leadership roles to solve local environmental problems. Earth Force brings together school districts, community-based organizations, corporations, communities of faith, and higher education institutions to engage young people in the natural environment.
The 2013 National Service-Learning Conference theme, Without Limits, represents the limitless potential of all young people, and the adults who support them, to solve real problems. From addressing global waste and raising awareness on water pollution, to meeting with policy makers at the Department of Transportation to address concerns about teen driver safety, youth make change happen. And today’s youth are more informed, more connected, and better positioned than ever before to tackle the toughest challenges of today.
When youth are given the opportunity to lead, there are no limits to what they can accomplish. When adults have the tools, resources, and support they need, they can create engaging, caring, and supportive environments for youth to become leaders.
Make a commitment to join NYLC and Earth Force at the 24th National Service-Learning Conference on March 13-15, 2013 in Denver, Colo. to learn, share, and observe youth as leaders — without limits.
