YAC has been brought up several times for me. I applied last year so I was up to date on the qualities that were necessary to be a member of YAC. I have several friends involved in YAC including in officer positions such as president, vices president, and the secretaries. For me personally, qualities I possess that would be helpful is knowledge on topics at Marshall High School. I have been attending the high school for three years so I have knowledge on the population at the high school and what is best for the students and staff. Along with knowledge and experience, I am reliable. I would attend every meeting possible on time and complete everything that needs to be completed. Along with several other qualities, I am opinionated and can make decisions based on what is best for Marshall High School, I would do what is best for the students at the high school.

Community service is the building blocks to creating a unified and positive community. Community service is a way for people who may not usually be connected to become connected and be a part of something bigger so a greater good. I have been impacted by community service by being able to know that I am doing something good. Through community service, I am able to help people in need, the elderly, children, students, etc. Community service helps build empathy and compassion in people which are the most important qualities in life.

The concern that I am choosing to discuss is mental health. Mental health is, in my opinion, one of the greatest issues among youth in Marshall. Mental health is something that is not spoken enough among youth. Yes, there are classes such as psychology, AP psychology, and health where students may learn about several types of mental illnesses however, there is not really a class on how to treat people around you that may have a mental illness. There are various factors that youth need to understand that may lead others to have mental illness such as academic pressure, poor home life, pressure surrounding sports, loss, loneliness, etc. These factors along with several others are the aspects that our community needs to understand better. Empathy and compassion are the main feelings that need to be addressed and shared among ourselves within this community. To do this, I believe that there needs to be an additional class or even lesson that is required in order to understand what people around us may be feeling. Students need to see the consequences of their negative and harmful actions towards someone especially if they are struggling with mental health. Mental health is already such an issue and when there is an addition of pressure and poor treatment from others, mental health can decline. Among our community, we need to focus on lifting each other up. You never know what someone is going through and that is such an important factor to always keep in mind. By just simply being kind to people, you can make such a difference in people’s lives, you can have an impact on someone’s mental health!

If accepted into YAC, I will prioritize my commitment by attempting to make it to every YAC meeting. I will also make sure to be at every community service event that the YAC community does as well as keeping up with service hours as a member of NHS to benefit the community outside of YAC. The extra curricular that potentially could interfere with YAC is high school spring soccer, either travel soccer or high school golf (whichever I decide), and potentially work (most likely would not be a problem).

Yes, I applied last year for a YAC membership.