彩民宝典

Amy Resendiz Salazar and her classmates were in seventh grade when they organized their first march through Lafayette, Colorado.

It was 2017, and the White House had just announced that it would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Resendiz Salazar and several of her fellow students wanted to show their support for friends and family members who were affected by the move. They marched from Lafayette's City Hall to a nearby park alongside several dozen other people.

鈥淭here were cars honking, and it was really exciting. The energy and atmosphere were great,鈥� said Resendiz Salazar, now a sophomore at Centaurus High School.

She and her classmates were taking part in a 彩民宝典 School of Education program called Public Achievement. It connects K-12 students to college students who help them find ways of effecting change in their communities. They conduct research and decide on their own whether to take a stance on issues they care about鈥撯�揻rom climate change to poverty, mental health and gun violence.

This year, it鈥檚 been a different story. The program and its participants, like everyone else, have had to navigate the realities of a pandemic鈥攏o more in-person meetings. No more large gatherings.听

Participants have proved remarkably resilient, said Soraya Latiff, assistant director of Public Achievement at CU Engage. They鈥檝e discovered new ways to express themselves through digital tools, such as webinars and social media. That鈥檚 what Public Achievement is all about, she said: Showing young people that they can be leaders in their communities, even amid hard circumstances.

K-12 student participants in Public Achievement will present their projects from Fall 2020 at a .

鈥淲e鈥檙e often told when we鈥檙e young that our experiences, the years we鈥檝e lived, don鈥檛 matter. But they do matter and can influence how we show up in making a change in society,鈥� Latiff said. 鈥淎mid uncertain times, young people can show up in ways that others can鈥檛.鈥�

Creating change during a pandemic

Public Achievement has a long history of showing up. This national effort, which was founded in 1990, is and has established sites at colleges across the country, including four in Colorado: 彩民宝典, CU Denver, Colorado College and Naropa University.

鈥淧ublic Achievement is rooted in this understanding that young people have the capacity to be agents of change in their communities,鈥� Latiff said.

At 彩民宝典, that can happen in several ways. Latiff and her team are working with students at several middle and high schools in the Boulder Valley School District. Students choose whether to participate in the program, and there are no political prescriptions.

鈥淲e work with youth to create projects in our communities depending on students' self-interests and current issues in our world,鈥� said Erika Orona, a former Public Achievement coach at 彩民宝典 who now works as a program coordinator for the program.

In the past, Public Achievement participants have set up school recycling campaigns, painted murals and given testimony at school board meetings.

In pandemic times, however, Orona and her colleagues have had to get creative. This fall, she and Latiff plus partners from the three other Public Achievement sites in Colorado organized a series of webinars. These public events brought together several young panelists who took questions and talked about some of the biggest issues affecting their lives in 2020: The role of youth in social movements, voting rights, the Black Lives Matter movement and COVID-19 health inequities.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 get to end the last school year with our students the way we wanted to because of the pandemic,鈥� Orona said. 鈥淭he weeks we spent prepping them for the webinars were really restorative. It was amazing to see them again.鈥�

Digital voices

For young people, 2020 has certainly been a difficult and uncertain year, said Nathan Roura, a senior at 彩民宝典 who has worked with Public Achievement for more than two years. But there鈥檚 also been another side to the pandemic: He鈥檚 seen young people become more engaged than ever in the issues facing their communities.

鈥淐OVID has really shined a light on all of the inequities in our society,鈥� said Roura, who studies international relations and political science. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 been a greater motivation to make those changes.鈥�

That certainly was the case for Isaiah Williams, a sophomore at Centaurus. He spoke during one of the recent webinars about the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.

鈥淭he [Black Lives Matter] movement has been inspiring to me, but it was also really traumatizing 鈥� as a Black American, that could happen to me or someone I love,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淚 know what I鈥檓 passionate about.鈥�

Roura added that young people 听are also coming up with new ways to take their voices to social media鈥攏ot just using platforms like Instagram and TikTok to kvetch about politics, but to forge real connections among people.

Resendiz Salazar agreed: 鈥淚t鈥檚 easier to communicate with others and say, 鈥楬ey, did you hear about what was going on in the news?鈥欌��

Today, the sophomore is hard at work on another project through Public Achievement. She and a few of her classmates have seen people around them struggling with stress and anxiety because of COVID-19. They鈥檙e launching their own, all-online, mental health resource鈥攁n Instagram account that will post affirming messages and provide people with healthy strategies for coping with hardships.听

鈥淕en Z is powerful,鈥� Resendiz Salazar said. 鈥淚 think that we will be able to make changes some day and show the older adults who鈥檚 boss.鈥�