Every year, the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Commission hosts an event called “Youth Town Hall” during the month of February where teens are given the opportunity to have their voice heard and at the same time, listen other students’ perspectives on different issues in Tempe. This is a wonderful opportunity and I am glad to have been able to participate.

Tempe recognized the importance of having youth voice their opinions on different topics that relate to them in order to create better programs to help teenagers in the city. Over the past couple of years, Youth Town Hall has covered topics including drug abuse, college planning for students, and safe places for kids to skate. All of the discussion groups come together to share ideas for each topic. Afterward, those ideas are compiled into a report that is presented to Tempe City Council to look at and decide where to go from there.

This year, MYAC is taking applications for Youth Town Hall on February 12. People who register early are more likely to be selected to participate. There is a competition between students to get in, with only about 125 seats available for all of the students in the Tempe middle schools and high schools.

At Youth Town Hall, high school students lead each discussion group in order to keep the process student-driven. From personal experience, I can say it is a great opportunity where one can meet new friends, participate in different and fun activities, eat a delicious free lunch, and explore new ways to solve various problems in Tempe. In the past, many of the recommendations made in Youth Town Hall have been put into practice, such as free unlimited bus passes for youth, Kid Zone, skate parks, educational workshops, teen art exhibits and events, leadership opportunities and programs, and much more. Students can sign up by going to the Assistant Principle of Activities’ office for more information. If positions run out before a student is selected, they can apply again the next year.

This will be my third year attending Youth Town Hall, where I’ll be in charge of registration and helping lead discussions. Discussions always begin with a fun icebreaker and then become a group brainstorming session, led by Youth Committee members, to find solutions for problems. I was able to learn about different, exciting ideas from each discussion last year. These included a collaboration between Gay/Straight Alliances across Tempe high schools to raise awareness for teens that face LGBTQ discrimination, a movement to extend lunchtime for students so more time would be available to buy and eat healthy food, and the establishment of stress management workshops to help students cope with stress at school and at home.

These are only a small part of a bigger picture of ideas and programs created by teenagers alone, and once I left Youth Town Hall for the first time, I left enlightened and inspired to act on the issues we face daily. The most exciting thing by far in YTH is the friendly environment that lets every student from a variety of schools and grades speak their mind, and it only takes one person’s voice to make the rest of the group excited about an idea! Apart from just talking, it is an opportunity for students to learn about issues they may not have been aware of and reevaluate how they think about unfamiliar things.