Hello there, my name is Idayziah and I am a senior at Hopewell High School. This is my second year being a part of Y Street and my first year as a member of the Y Street Leadership Team (YSLT). I got the opportunity to join Y Street last year. It was my school’s first year being a part of this amazing program. My school’s student council was ecstatic to start as I was too. This year was a bit different as we recruited at the beginning of the school year and had all diverse groups of people join us.
We hosted a training on November 12, 2019, the day before Rev Your Bev Day. At the start of training, we caught many of the trainees off guard with an impromptu photoshoot they had to take because it’s accustomed for us to take a headshot of new and returning members. As the chatter started to die down, YSLT members led the group into a fun ice-breaker called “Speed Friending” to get everyone warmed up and acquainted. From then on we got down to business! Our Youth Field Organizers, Lea and Mel, did an amazing job going over the issues that Y Street will tackle this year using numbers and visuals that intrigued the whole group. They helped explain the difference between equity and equality using a visual no one will forget. Mel and Lea went over in detail the Share The Air campaign and the Rev Your Bev campaign, respectively. They helped each new Y-Ster understand the goals of each campaign, the do’s and don’ts, and how we can help. Of course, all of this information could be tiring but Lea led us into a “Shakedown” exercise to get us all pumped up for more information before we went on to learn how to complete and collect the campaign surveys.
The training helped each of our recruited members to understand their duties as a Y-Ster and many were very excited to start. Rev Your Bev Day was the next day (Nov 13) and the new Y-Sters rocked out this event! The training helped me understand the viewpoint of the new members and how I could help them understand the opportunities they receive from participating in the program. Also, this training gave me and other returning Y-Sters a reminder on some of the things we value and advocate for in this program.
The training process is a critical part of understanding your role and what you are advocating for when you represent Y Street. It’s important to be in attendance so you know what you can do to help and most importantly have fun while doing service in your community. I am excited to be a Y-Ster for the 2019-2020 school year and I can’t wait to make a difference!
