City Spotlights Blog
By Jasmine Garcia
This past week, the teens of this summer’s City Spotlights have made amazing progress in building a community with one another. Through activities that build communication skills, teamwork and play – the Teen Leaders have been able to choose their theme for the summer – Human rights. Many topics were in the ring for this summer’s theme but because they found so many social justice topics they wished to tackle, they all came together and chose one that would allow everyone to speak about the issues that matter to them. In preparation for their State House Presentation, the teens created a group speech speaking on issues they want addressed in their city, along with music specialty creating a group song for everyone to sing and embodies the spirit of our young people today.
In just the first week of the program I have seen so many teens create friendships, come out of their shells and gain confidence in their ability to make change in the world. I have also seen returners lend a helping hand and create space for those new to the program to feel as though they have a place here in City Spotlights. I am so excited to see what these Teen Leaders will create in the coming weeks.