Stand and Yell Community Impact Scholarship

At just 13 years old, I started the process of launching a youth non-profit in my community. I had recently moved to the area and found very few options for low-income kids in our community for after-school activities, myself included. In 2016, after a year and a half of hard work and planning, the Youth Board and Board of Directors officially opened the doors to ROOTS Teen Center, a place for young people to be heard, encouraged, and empowered. From day one, the goal of ROOTS was for young people to head the organization, bringing in programming youth actually wanted and needed instead of adults doing what they think youth wanted and needed. In my time volunteering at ROOTS I was the president of their youth board where I helped to plan and host fundraisers, and created programs such as #LetsTalkAbout, #Adulting, open mics, recycled art workshops, and Artdoors (hiking and art program). #LetsTalkAbout gave space for young people to speak about topics that were worrying them, including gun violence, and we were joined by our Senator. #Adulting were workshops on basic adult tasks like vetting apartments and landlords and applying for college. We also build connections with a local college where leftover food was packed and frozen and then donated to our freezer for those coming in to be able to heat up and have a hot homemade meal. In our bathrooms, we provided pamphlets for local resources they may need so they can inquire in private, or if interested or needed, we were staffed with volunteers with the knowledge to point them in the direction they may need. Throughout the years we have had bike building workshops partnering with a local bike shop where kids would learn how to fix a bike and would be able to take it home with them at the end. As well as a computer building workshop hosted by a student at a local technical school, who taught others how to fix up laptops so they could take them home with them at the end as well. These two programs especially became popular as we were able to provide large recourses at the end at no cost and they learned something new along the way. Over the pandemic started Whip up Wednesdays where a cohort of kids would get groceries dropped off biweekly with a video recipe posted by volunteers teaching the kids how to cook and bake. This played as a supplemental resource as we were not able to provide frozen meals like before with the college being shut down, and another source to teach a valuable life skill. I am continuing my education in Spanish and Music Education because I want to expand the opportunity for youth programming. I am a strong believer that music builds connections, teaches valuable life skills like teamwork, and timeliness, and can expose you to the world at little cost. Travel is expensive, however, you can learn so much about the world, cultures, and history through music. I am also passionate about providing opportunities for immigrant students (in my area many Latino students) who only speak or feel most comfortable speaking Spanish, and believe they have the right to the same programming as their peers, in whichever way makes them feel more comfortable. My hope with my education is to gain the knowledge and skills, to continue building those opportunities for the young folks in my community, to bridge the gap between those financially well-off or low-income, and to provide multilingual opportunities.