Youth Empowerment Institute

Everyone poses with their vision board created on our first day of the camp!

Project Overview

Our project this year was in collaboration with the Youth Action Network, a non-profit organization geared towards creating resources for youth in civic engagement. We worked on creating a leadership and technology camp over the summer. It was a 4-day event that encouraged youth to network, learn technology skills, and experience college life. Students who attended were able to experience a versatile itinerary to well-round themselves. They were able to network, have hands-on experience with creating digital materials for advocacy, and share their own stories and passions.

Meet our team!

Anne Le (she/her) | Linkedin

4th year | Sociology, GISES concentration

My future goals revolve around getting into social work and giving back to my community at home. My current passion is community service.

Nadia Vazquez (she/her) | Linkedin

3rd year | BME major & minor in GISES

I hope to pursue a career in marketing working with advertising, brand marketing, or PR. My current passion is learning about how the economy works and the business world.

Meet our project partner!

The Youth Action Network (YAN) aims to provide an impact initiative to increase youth wellbeing by amplifying youth voices within their community. YAN provides a platform for youth to step into their greatness and support the next generation of community leaders by providing opportunities in community-based research, civic engagement, and youth leadership development. The Youth Action Network is a non-profit organization that aims to empower youth through programming and advocacy.

Graphic Design

The youth in our camp were taught concepts on graphic design. They were shown how to create a graphic design with the different elements that are available specifically in Canva. The youth created two graphic designs, one being a representation of who they are, and the second being a design that was going to be transported onto their tote bags for the screenprinting workshop.

Storyboarding

The students learn how to plan out their video through creating a frame-by-frame sketch. They were given the choice of a template or creating their own outlines, then filling it out with information such as scene number, any dialogue and effects. This workshop connected with videography as the students had to plan in our video before jumping into iMovie.

Videography

The students in our camp were taught how to create a multimedia video. They were taught different elements of video editing, and they specifically learned how to video edit using the platform IMovie. They created a short video that represented their interests, or created a short narrative to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts/knowledge on how to do videography.

Project Description & Solution

Our project was centered around the issue of the lack of resources to learn tech skills in the Santa Cruz County. There are no programs within the schools, or in the surrounding communities, that properly support and encourage students to learn in the tech field. Therefore, we designed our project for youth who live in the Santa Cruz County. We held a four-day camp where we taught four different tech tools: graphic design, screen printing, storyboarding, and videography. We focused our camp on promoting youth leadership and youth advocacy by creating a safe and welcoming environment that promotes and inspires youth to have a voice in an area where they aren't usually encouraged to due to the lack of support from their community.

Project Outcomes

Our team and project partner successfully hosted our four-day camp with about our expected attendance. We had good engagement and participation from the students throughout the four days. Each participant showed their comprehension of the tech tools that we introduced to them in their tech products. We also brought awareness and exposure to the Youth Action Network organization to the youth in our camp so they could potentially join if they were interested.

Project Milestones (2 - 4)

Project milestones that we had in our project included creating an event where students did not have to sleep over. This meant there would be transportation provided for the students. This new development allowed students to return home nad rest without their parents being worried. Along with that, having students from various schools around Santa Cruz County, which encouraged students to make friends outside of their usual environment. Another milestone we had was an age gap between our students. We had students from early middle school to late high school.

Heads

Before the implementation of our project, our research taught us more about the community we live in, specifically about the schools in our county. During our camp, we learned from multiple of our participants how the education system hinders specific student's learning. The schooling system targets certain students and place them in environments where they ultimately end up suffering more than succeeding.

Hands

When learning and working with tech, it is important to be open minded. It can be challenging at times when learning new tech skills, but in able to gain those valuable skillsets one has to have a growth mindset. Having a growth mindset means being open to being vulnerable and getting out of your comfort zone. This means knowing that you might face a difficult challenge, but then overcoming that challenge will lead to growth.

Hearts

Throughout the lead up to our four day camp, and during our camp, we learned that communication is essential for everything. In order for things to run smoothly, it is important to communicate project progress, action items, and any issues that may arise. It is also very important to be honest with yourself and your teams and take accountability if necessary.