By Uth ACT members:

Tenesha, 17
Daveon, 17
Troy, 15
Christina, 16

 

UthAct stands for Youth Achieving Change Together. Uth ACT is a youth-led organization where the youth come together to make a change in our city by increasing the voice, visibility, and empowerment of young people. We have created policy, researched youth in the media, and for the past six years, Uth ACT has put on many youth rallies.

 

Our rallies are centered around an issue facing youth, for example, youth empowerment, racial profiling, and youth health.

 

This year the rally is a "Go Green Initiative" which affects not only youth in the city, but everyone in the world.  This year's rally will be held at the newly established Teen Center in Hampton, VA and will feature a battle of the bands, eco-friendly activities, informational booths, and free tours of the Teen Center.

 

This rally will allow everyone to gain information about the Going Green Initiative, meet people, and have fun. In order for Uth ACT to put on the rally, the youth must organize themselves to make decisions and bring about community awareness. 

 

It is important for youth to be involved in youth organizing because it gives young people an opportunity to gain leadership skills. Through this we have an outlet for our voices to be heard, a way to be involved in our community, and it distracts us and other young people from being on the streets and getting into trouble.

 
by WORD contributing editors:
Kevin Gray, 16
Ashley Williams, 17
Janah Stokes, 17

 

Word! Magazine is a youth based, youth run magazine that addresses issues pertaining to young people in the community. Our charge is to inspire social action amongst our readers. As youth staff to Word! Magazine our role is to give our opinion and collect opinions from our peers about an identified issue in the community. We have covered issues such as military recruiting, teen sexual activity, racial profiling, and many more. Our target audience is both youth and adult readers.
 
We are youth leaders. Word! Magazine gives us an opportunity to engage in leadership in that we, as a magazine staff, are in charge of research, writing, interviewing, and illustrating the magazine. These roles help improve our leadership in that we enhance our social skills, our ability to put our thoughts in writing, and teach us how to create and inspire change.
 
Our next issue is about racism with a thread of unity and diversity throughout. We as a staff feel as though racism is still in our community and schools and we wanted to address something that was prevalent and heavy in our community. We want to acknowledge the topic within the community for youth and adults. Surveys were conducted and real interviews were used to collect data. Look for this issue to be out soon!

 

As I look back on the past seven years I have spent in middle school and high school, some of my fondest memories come from the experiences I had by being involved in school activities. One of my first leadership experiences was the Principal's Advisory Group at Jones Magnet Middle School. This is where I learned for the first time the true meaning of being a leader among my peers. I felt like I had found my niche. By working with Alternatives, school administrators, and fellow students, I found how rewarding it is to give back to your community and to promote school pride throughout the student body. This experience led me to stay involved in middle school and then on into high school. Being elected as President of the Student Council Association, I was able to infuse many of the skills I learned in middle school into this position in high school. One of these skills was having the ability to maturely communicate with adults and my peers. Also as a leader in sports and clubs, I have learned an important lesson that I will be able to take with me for the rest of my life. This lesson is that it is truly a hard task to earn the respect from all of your friends, adults, and even complete strangers. However, I have to remind myself that I was chosen to be put in this position and that I need to put trust in others and in myself. I met some of the most influential people along the way by being involved in school leadership activities. Most importantly, I have met lifelong friends who share the same sense of responsibility and commitment that I value and I will cherish that forever. 

 

Personal and Professional Advancement Opportunities for Adults