A lot has happened since our orientation retreat in August, where we welcomed new eleventh grade fellows into the Fellowship and twelfth grade Bridgers into their second year. Fellows and Bridgers have been busy attending skill-building sessions, committee meetings, hearing from our alumni, and joining together for team building and bonding activities. Read more below and check out some photo highlights of the year so far!
CONNECTING WITH OTHERS
by Murphy Slater
Connection and open communication is such an important part of a community, especially one that strives to make effective change in the world - just like YouthBridge. Starting right at the beginning of the group interview, I instantly knew that this was a place that intentionally fostered this kind of connection, and I immediately wanted to be a part of it. All throughout the interview process everyone was so warm and welcoming, and that same energy has definitely remained consistent throughout my time as a part of this program.
Along with being an amazing chance to learn more about inequality that exists in a wide range of situations and environments, YouthBridge provides a unique chance to connect with other high schoolers across the city in meaningful ways. Through YouthBridge, I’ve been able to have conversations with students from Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, which are the three boroughs that I’m really not that familiar with on my own. It’s because of these conversations and interactions that I’ve been able to learn so much more about different aspects of New York that I was previously unaware of. This ability to connect with others through the topics and activities in this program has directly increased my social awareness and ability to communicate effectively with a much wider range of people.
In fact, some of my favorite moments from this program have been based off of this incredible connectivity. Whether I was learning about the raft social experiment and how to make situations equitable for the most people possible, or reading about the sustainability of homegrown food and planting my own seeds with my fellow food justice committee members, it’s been an incredibly engaging and educational experience.
One thing I’m looking forward to is learning more about the grant writing process, because I’m very excited to be a part of a real solution that can help combat some of the social issues we’ve spent the last few months learning about. I’m so thankful to have gotten a chance to be a part of this program, and I can’t wait to see what’s coming next!
COMBATING INEQUALITIES
by Gabriel Mittler
Hello everyone, my name is Gabriel and I am currently a junior at the Ramaz School. At the start of this year I began YouthBridge. Since September I have had nothing but great experiences and have learned a lot about the inequalities in New York City and the country as a whole. I have met so many amazing people from other schools around New York who I can learn so much from as everyone has different backgrounds. I applied to YouthBridge at the end of tenth grade for the opportunity to learn and discuss with a diverse group of teenagers about problems that people face, as well as come up with solutions. My school is not diverse at all, so one of the reasons I joined was to hear other perspectives from people with different backgrounds and cultures.
I am a member of the Healthcare Disparities committee. This topic is so important to discuss just from hearing the name itself. So to me, and all the teenagers in the group, discussing and analyzing how there is inequality in such an important aspect of life is very important. Entering the Healthcare Disparities committee, I expected to have intense discussions and debates on why there are inequalities, how the government can fix them, and what we can do as a group of teenegers who live in New York. This is exactly what we have done. A couple of meetings ago, the group was split up into two teams. One was to debate the pros of healthcare in America and the other was the cons. I was on the side of the pros and we went back and forth with the other side for a while; both coming up with great points. I think we won! That was one of my favorite moments so far this year.
Another one of my favorites was during our skillbuilding workshop before winter break. We had guest speakers come to teach us about the city council and how to utilize them as citizens of the city. I enjoyed the presentation and I learned about what to do when we encounter a problem in the city. We got split up into groups and received a problem idea. Our assignment was to make a short skit about a real life example of the issue and how to address it. The other groups would then have to guess what the problem was.
We are only halfway through the year and I have already learned so much. I am looking forward to continuing to do projects like this and having debates with the Healthcare Disparities committee. I am excited to hear more amazing guest speakers, continuing to meet new people and discussing why there is inequality in the healthcare system and how to fix it.
NEW EXPERIENCES SPARK NEWFOUND CURIOSITY
by Bridgette Jeonarine
I joined YouthBridge-NY because I wanted to be in an environment which helped me grow as an individual and further my passions. I was initially drawn to this program because I had an ability to bridge two of my interests — law and advocacy through the Criminal Justice Reform committee. When I discovered that this was a 2 year program, I was even more excited to not only learn valuable skills but to learn alongside like minded individuals and form some tight knit connections.
Entering the program, I had expected it to be very hands-on and was pleasantly surprised when it was not only very teamwork based but also allowed us to be ourselves and branch out into other groups through the monthly Thursday workshops, which focuses on developing leadership skills rather than our advocacy work, done in smaller groups.
Undoubtedly, this past January workshop was one of the most interesting yet challenging sessions yet. I feel so honored to have been able to be taught by Ivy Cohen, on communications and marketing, a field I had never really been introduced to before. She made the workshop very interactive, through an activity in which we were required to promote products to certain audiences. While this became very enjoyable, it also required us to think about how to get certain groups intrigued by certain products, through examining their lifestyles and interests.
Beyond this, I especially appreciated how Ms. Cohen took her time to talk about her own experiences as a student and her non-linear career path. She not only was a great instructor but wanted to form connections with us, making the experience very special.
As the year progresses, I am eagerly awaiting our annual Bridging the Gap grant, in which the smaller advocacy committees are able to give a grant to a non-profit of our choosing, who focuses on our objectives. This is such a great way to give back to the community as well as further our own committee efforts. I also am looking forward to our next workshop and being around all of the fellows. I feel extremely grateful to be around my peers, share laughs, and support each other.
YouthBridge has combined many aspects that are rare to find in high school fellowships and I can’t wait to see what we dive into next as well as what is in store for the next round of fellows.