Posted by dreynold on February 06, 2009 | RSS Feed
Youth Help Expecting Teens during First PYLI Retreat
Alabama Cooperaitve Extension System’s Urban Affairs and New Nontraditional Programs unit recently kicked off its Points of Light Youth Leadership Institute (PYLI) retreat in Decatur. This was the first time North Alabama organizations, such as the Decatur Youth Services Center, the Aqua Dome, and Extension offices in Colbert, Morgan and Limestone counties, partnered to implement a weekend retreat through PYLI.
The PYLI teaches youth a broad range of leadership skills that can be applied to any life experience through a curriculum that includes both classroom instruction and experiential training. The PYLI is designed to help high school age students develop leadership skills and learn the importance of becoming actively involved in their community. The program also encourages teamwork among students from various communities, thus creating a network for students to use.
During the retreat, urban regional Extension agents and certified PYLI trainers Marcus Garner, Marian Beck and Apriell Burgess used hands-on experiences to teach. The workshop sessions included tours, role-playing exercises, panel presentations, videotapes, lectures, icebreakers, question and answer sessions and other educational techniques. Each participant was required to attend all sessions.
At first the students were slow to move out of their circles to meet other youth and to participate in activities, but when the learning activities became difficult, they quickly bonded together. One of their assignments was to think about issues facing their community and school. The issue they chose was teen pregnancy. The youth were required to complete a fact finding field trip and visit three locations that could identify with teen pregnancy and to report back with their findings. Their findings resulted in the development of a community service project to help pregnant teens and to raise awareness about teen pregnancy.
Linda Buchanan, executive director of Decatur’s Sav-A-Life Pregnancy Center, was thrilled about the idea and was eager to assist. She stated, “I’ve never seen a group of students who are so interested in the awareness of teen pregnancy.”
Buchanan took the students on a tour of the facility and encouraged them to get involved in the Baby Bottle Coin Drive. Baby bottles are used to collect donations that go to help Sav-A-Life clients undergoing a pregnancy crisis. The youth raised more than $396 from their families, friends, schools, churches and local businesses. The money will be used to help expecting mothers receive free medical screenings, baby clothes and other valuable resources.
Thirteen participants attended all the sessions and received a certificate of completion. The youth were not only proud of their accomplishments, but also they expressed how they would love to attend the program again and encourage other students to participate as well. As a result of their participation in the PYLI retreat, the youth gained valuable leadership skills, developed a sense of teamwork, and made a valuable contribution to their community by helping other young people like themselves.
