On September 28th Iowa State University Extension and Outreach hosted a Regional Youth Summit. Six middle school students from St. Joseph Community School joined other area northeast Iowa schools at Upper Iowa University for the summit. The day included learning about needs of the community/school, how to get involved and how youth can use their voice to put their ideas into actions. Students had the opportunity to network with local experts, adult mentors and guest speakers during small group break out sessions. Sessions included topics of mindfulness, financial literacy, leadership, communication, and agriculture and natural resources.
The goal for the event was for youth to learn leadership skills and develop a community/school Action Plan. Students also learned the importance of SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timeframe). The expectation was that youth will use their voice and leadership to implement their community/school action plan by the end of the current school year. St. Joseph Community School students created an action plan to improve our school wide Family Group events. Their goal was to have more consistency when meeting with Family Groups and provide fun and engaging activities.