WRAPPING UP OUR SUMMER OF LEADERSHIP

8/30/2018

By: Generation SERVE Teen Leaders, Haylen, Taryn and Zazie

As our summer of service wraps up, we sat down with three of our Youth Leadership Program participants to hear how they liked the program, what they learned and what they plan to do next with all their new skills and experience.

Haylen

Hi, my name is Haylen and I’m entering 8th grade at Murchison Middle School. I’ve been volunteering for my whole life and I’ve served at the nursing home, food banks and now Generation SERVE. I decided in April to apply to the Youth Leadership Program because I wanted to learn more about volunteering in the community. I was so happy when I found out I got in! I have learned a lot and I'm really excited to be a part of leading in the community! My biggest challenge during training and group projects would be learning how to communicate with other co-leads. It was challenging because we all had great ideas for our group project, so we had to learn how to compromise together! Now that I have learned so much through volunteering, I hope I can continue being a leader in the community.

Taryn

Hi, my name is Taryn and I’m going into 6th grade at Murchison Middle School. I loved volunteering at nursing homes, Mobile Loaves & Fishes and Generation SERVE last fall. I was in the Service Learning Program, and we would meet every Saturday for 6 weeks. Three weeks were for learning about poverty in the community and the other three sessions were for volunteering to help the people we learned about. Now, doing the Co-Lead program here has been another amazing opportunity for me. My favorite organization that Generation SERVE partners with is the Austin Diaper Bank. The Austin Diaper Bank provides diapers for babies and toddlers in foster homes that can’t afford to buy them. They are one of the many partner organizations that Generation SERVE works with regularly and I had a great time volunteering with them.

Zazie

Hi, my name is Zazie. I'm 15 years old and I am headed into the 10th grade at Griffin College Prep. I started coming to Generation SERVE this July, and I had no previous experience volunteering. Jennifer, Barbara and the whole Generation SERVE team introduced me to the program, and helped me learn how to lead families in service projects. After that, I got to jump right into my work. My first activity was at an assisted living home called Westminster Manor. I was nervous at first, but with the help of my awesome lead, Ben, I was able to enjoy the activity and stop worrying. After that, I knew what to do and I’ve helped out at six activities since then. My biggest challenge has always been anxiety, so when it was time for me to lead my own activity I was pretty frightened. I think going to Mayfield Park and gardening was my favorite memory so far. I went in not knowing what I was doing but after meeting the kids and getting to work, I started to feel better. Afterwards, I laughed at myself for ever worrying about it. Generation SERVE has made me feel more confident in myself and taught me I don't always need to worry.