Did you know that TRP’s Elev8 program currently runs over 15 programs at Orozco Community Academy? This month we are highlighting The Peace and Leadership Council (PLC), facilitated by Mikva Challenge.
The program provides youth expertise and ideas to their school and community leaders. The main goal of the program focuses on improving leadership skills like communication, collaboration, public speaking, and research. The PLC also reinforces the idea that young people’s voices are valid and that they deserve to be heard.  The council is intended to empower young people to be vocal, be civilly engaged, and work to make changes where they see a need for.
Orozco student Xochitl Perez says, “The program teaches us to work with different people and make our ideas happen.”
“Often, middle school is written off as a tough time full of awkwardness and self-absorption,” says Mia Salamone, PLC Facilitator. “My students are dealing with some social and physical transitions, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t want to be involved in making Orozco and Pilsen a better place. They really care, and are willing to put in the time and effort to improve their community.  As one of my students put it in our recent presentation at the Elev8 Summit, she likes learning to be a leader, for herself and for others. It’s inspiring and impressive to hear 11- and 12-year-olds talk about wanting to give back like that.”
The students research issues in their school and create recommendations for changes and serve as advisory councils to their principals and school administrators. Students participating in the program recently created and distributed flyers in the school and neighborhood on healthy bodies, healthy minds, and community support. Their vision was to create flyers that let people know about the different resources available to them and encourage them to take advantage of these resources.
Students are currently working on a new initiative to survey their peers on a variety of issues impacting them like bullying, safety, and classroom instruction. They will distribute their survey to other students and once they tally up the results they plan to set up a meeting with the principal to address these issues and work collectively to find solutions. Teamwork is key in this program and according to Citlali Perez, “Here you really learn to help one another and everyone’s ideas are respected.”

Return to Nueva Vida December 2013 here.