About 50 students calling themselves “engaged youth” participated in the Network for Young Walla Walla’s First Annual Youth Leadership Summit Dec. 4 to Dec. 6.
The summit, the first event to unite students from the three participating schools since the network’s kick-off picnic last spring, drew similar numbers of Whitman and Walla Walla University students, with about ten community college students also attending.
A television monitor in the lobby of the building donated for the event by Walla Walla Community College, the William A. Grant Water & Environmental Center, projected a definition of the summit’s theme: sustainability.
“The mutually beneficial intersection of economic stability, ecological integrity and sociopolitical justice,” the screen read.
Throughout the weekend, participants discussed the tasks that face students working on sustainability and other community issues, from fundraising to planning projects to publicizing events. One topic of discussion was what to call such students, which led to the network selecting some new terms by which to refer to its members.
“At the Summit last weekend we talked a lot about the word “activist” and discussed some of the strong liberal connotations it has,” said Summit staff sophomore Elana Congress via e-mail. “Instead, we like to refer to ourselves as ‘involved citizens,’ ‘engaged youth,’ ‘active citizens,’ ‘community-minded youth.’ One of those terms better describes the full range of members in the Network.”
Saturday evening, the full range of Network members gathered around five 26″ Colossus pizzas from Pipeline Pizza. The food fueled multiple small group discussions, one about the common pitfall of procrastination by baking, before everyone formed a circle in which people could present their projects. Senior Camila Thorndike, Summit Director, told students to give “the elevator pitch” of their ideas.
Senior Elena Gustafson pitched her program that focuses on getting at-risk youth involved in the outdoors.
“The first time they see a tree that’s too big for them to put their arms around, it’s an amazing experience,” she said. “I haven’t really had time to reach out to Walla Walla Community College or Walla Walla University, but if anyone is interested I’d love to talk to you.”
Other projects were helping local Latino students reach higher education and creating a forum for students to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict.
A 20-page pamphlet given to all attendees included four pages for them to record contact information from other individuals, so the students can stay in touch throughout the year.
The network plans to make the fall Leadership Summit an annual event, along with a spring celebration that will facilitate the sharing of successful projects and conversations about how to improve future efforts. The network’s leadership was happy with the result of the inaugural Summit, especially given the stressful time of the semester.
“My favorite part is people not only coming two weeks before finals, but being really involved,” said Thorndike.
