Resnick Aspen Action Forum

The Resnick Aspen Action Forum Youth Camp is designed to foster leadership through seminars and workshops with text-based discussions focused on the challenges and responsibilities that youth face as the next generation of leaders. Over four days, 65 young leaders, from 14 countries, identified issues in their surrounding communities and developed projects designed to provide impactful solutions. Participants were divided into three groups, based on age, and participated in various activities including a discussion with featured artist, Aaron Huey, on art’s role in social change, camp dinners, and a poetry slam event.  In celebration of International Youth Day, we highlight the amazing work of this year’s Youth Camp participants. Below, Sy Dragon, Youth Camp participant and daughter of Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow, Kriste Dragon, provides the following words to recap her Youth Camp project, experience and the impact it had on her role as a young leader. 
   
During the conception of our project, we had to identify an injustice we all observed in our schools, cities and communities. We then brainstormed to find a way to combat that injustice. We landed on sexual harassment as a problem that was present in some aspect of all of our lives. We then narrowed our objective to two sub-issues that we thought needed to be addressed: (1) providing a space for victims of sexual abuse to talk openly about their experiences and (2) helping them find support. We believed that a blog where people are able to post anonymously about their experiences would be a good starting point for people who need to talk. We collected information on the cities that each of us live in and found out what hot-lines or help centers were available for people who need real-time support. In under four days, our team of 23 Youth Camp participants created a logo, a social media page, and a website that includes a blog page and search-engine feature. We then presented our project to all the Resnick Aspen Action Forum attendees during the closing lunch ceremonies.

Throughout the week, we came up with different philosophies for our team and the problems we face as youth desiring to make a difference in the world. One idea from the readings we discussed was especially empowering - the idea that each of us is a torch able to guide the way for others and that we also have the ability to ignite a flame inside their hearts.

I think of my experience at the Resnick Aspen Action Forum as a spark and each one of us in the Youth Camp as an ember, ready to burst into flames and spread. As young people, we were not expected to have insight and agency, but we proved to be plentiful in both. Part of the reason that my experience was so stimulating and exciting was because the other participants were both willing to disagree and extremely determined to find a common goal - an unusual combination of traits in teenagers. We were able to work fiercely together because we were not afraid of the journey, we were not afraid to be uncomfortable and we were not afraid to be in disagreement. We know that we have a voice. We have a commitment. We have the future in our hands.