Teens Produce Fresh Thoughts On Issues Program Lets Youths Voice Concerns For The Future

Most speeches and reports blur together in Jen Wilson’s mind unless she feels like her point really counts.

She’s a 16-year-old sophomore in the debate club at Mead High School. Wilson and her friends, Jed Evans and Kelly Moise, know how to make an argument.

Now they want people in power to listen.

The teens are planning strategies to clean up Spokane’s parks. They have a shot at convincing officials of doing it their way through the Citizens League of Greater Spokane’s To Make a Difference program.

On Tuesday, more than 30 teens brainstormed with experts on a variety of topics, such as ways to stop people from flipping beer bottles in the river or cigarettes on sidewalks.

Wilson and her friends could be one of four groups who will get a chance to present their proposals to a panel of City Council members, county commissioners and school administrators in April.

“This could affect people outside of your little school bubble,” Wilson said. “I mean, big deal if you get an ‘A’ on a paper.”

In the To Make a Difference program, teens are asked to define, research and offer recommendations on ways to fix a variety of issues. Each group has an adult supervisor and at least three members. More than 100 groups are participating in this year’s program, although not all of them attended the brainstorming session.

Topping the list of concerns at Tuesday’s session were ways to keep teens occupied, followed by drugs, teen pregnancy, suicide and gangs.

The teens are also tackling problems few have been asked to consider before. Several students admitted they don’t talk in school hallways about labyrinthine issues such as air quality, the impact of welfare reform or the proposed Lincoln Street bridge.

But that doesn’t mean they don’t care about those issues, they said.

“Instead of just getting a trophy, getting this done could be the biggest trophy of all,” Evans said.

Entries are due March 20. An awards ceremony is April 23. The projects will be judged on the quality of a written report, the relevance of the problem, analysis, the problem-solving process and final recommendations.

First prize is $750, plus an additional $250 the winning team must give to a community service agency, school project or charity.

Last year’s first-prize winner did a presentation on drunken driving. They donated their $500 prize to Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Chuck Morrison of the Citizens League said last year’s program involved 300 teams and 70 projects. City Council members were impressed last year with a proposal from Sacajawea Middle School students to fix the city’s potholes.

According to the students’ theory, if neighborhoods worked together to beautify a particular street, they could apply gentle pressure on other neighbors to help lobby officials for more repair money.

Despite enthusiasm for the program, some teens didn’t sign up this year because they felt officials aren’t taking them seriously, said Joanne Benham, city/county youth director.

Others admitted they were doing it for extra credit in school, she said.

“It was a false assumption to begin with,” Benham said. “They have to understand that if you want to make a difference, you have to stick with it and not just sit back and hope somebody else gets it done.”

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