Junior Youth Action (JYA) recently held its 2012 Closing Exercises at the University of Pennsylvania marking the end of the 5^th year of the program. The innovative Junior Youth Action leadership & mentorship program which is facilitated by members of Youth Action seeks to empower elementary and middle school aged youth to value the importance of education, civic participation, social justice, and equality.

The program emphasizes to how education, service, and leadership must be interconnected and valued in order to achieve social change in their communities.

“It was so great to work with the children this year” said Junior Youth Action Co-Director Azurai Thompson, 18, who will be starting Spelman College this fall. Her and Co-Director Iyannah McKendrick organized several interactive workshops centered on leadership and character building.  Iyannah, 17, and soon to be freshman at Whittier College in California says “JYA members actively participated in workshops focused on giving them an early introduction to service.” Both Azurai and Iyannah crafted an outstanding curriculum where the first four months of the 9 month program focused on leadership  & character building, while the next 2 months focused on service, and the last three months of the program focused on volunteerism and service.

In July, JYA members attended an all expense paid trip to Washington, DC where they toured historical monuments such as The Korean War Memorial, The Lincoln Memorial, The White House, The Washington Monument, and The Martin Luther King Jr. Monument. They were treated to lunch at the DC’s Old Post Office and toured two Smithsonian Museums: The National Air and Space Museum and The National Museum of African Art. During and before each visit, students were offered mini lessons on each site’s relevance to social impact.

Other closing exercise activities included reflections from Junior Youth Action member Bobby Hill on his year with the program, a photo slide show of the year, each JYA member received an official JYA membership badge and there were reflections from program directors Iyannah McKendrick & Azurai Thompson on their experiences with the students this year.  The closing ceremony featured graduates Nasir Bailey of Northeast Philadelphia and Jelani Hasan of Northwest Philadelphia. One of the additional aims of JYA is to prepare members for transition into Youth Action. Both students will be 9^th graders in the fall and will be joining Youth Action as well.

For more information on Junior Youth Action email Gavin Grant at ggrant@youthactionteam.org

Published August 19th, 2012