Meet the 2011-2012 Youth Organizers (Click a Face, Hear Their Story!)

Adella Sundmark, Homer
Amanda Israelson, Yakutat
Aurora Hoefferle, Dillingham
Jasmin Johnson, Palmer
Ruby Steedle, Juneau
Description
PALMER -- Ten far-flung Alaskan teens gave up their Labor Day weekends to gather in Palmer. Their mission: to defend wild Alaskan salmon and promote Real Food in their own communities. AYEA's annual Fall Project Planning Summit brought together rural and urban teens to learn how to turn ideas into action. Over three days, the youth gained skills in public speaking, storytelling, detail-oriented planning and direct action at Spring Creek Farm, an 800-acre hay farm at the foot of the Chugach and Talkeetna mountains. It was a serene, focused place to create community action project plans that the teens will accomplish during the 2011-2012 school year. Follow these youth organizers' projects here. Staff will be updating www.AYEA.org/YO all year with stories, photos and videos from their lives across Alaska.
Alea Hale, Fairbanks
April Norsby, Fairbanks
Heidi Kritz, Dillingham
Jaymes Kelly, Pilot Station
Sandi Echuck, Togiak

Adella Sundmark, Homer

Description
Adella is concerned that kids today don't know why it is important to eat local foods -- and especially why eating locally is better for both the health of the earth and the health of their bodies! At the fall Project Planning Summit, Adella was enthused by a presentation about the Alaskan Farm-to-School program, which has helped to inspire her AYEA project this year. For her Youth Organizer project, Adella is creating a series of presentations about the importance of locally grown foods for elementary school students in her local (Homer) community, which will culminate in an art competition about local foods.

Alea Hale, Fairbanks

Description
Alea and April are teaming together in order to work with local partners in Fairbanks in creating a 'seed library' that will rent out seeds to members of the local community -- as well as to school gardens. The "rent-a-seed" concept is intended to help people to build their own gardens by providing them with the seeds and the knowledge/education with which to do so. In addition, the concept of 'rent-a-seed' means that even the seeds used to grow local produce will remain local.

Amanda Israelson, Yakutat

Description
Amanda recognized that too much waste is generated by the use of paper towels in the school bathrooms at Yakutat High School. In collaboration with the Yakutat AYEA chapter, Amanda's project is to get ten electric hand dryers installed in her high school by the end of the academic year. In comparing the environmental impacts of using paper towels with those of electric hand dryers, Amanda needs to convince the school administration that electric hand dryers make good environmental (and financial) sense!

April Norsby, Fairbanks

Description
April and Alea are teaming together in order to work with local partners in Fairbanks in creating a 'seed library' that will rent out seeds to members of the local community -- as well as to school gardens. The "rent-a-seed" concept is intended to help people to build their own gardens by providing them with the seeds and the knowledge/education with which to do so. In addition, the concept of 'rent-a-seed' means that even the seeds used to grow local produce will remain local.

Aurora Hoefferle, Dillingham

Description
In Dillingham, Aurora noticed a general lack of awareness about the Pebble Mine proposal and its impact on the cultural heritage of the area. In order to raise awareness about how Pebble Mine threatens the community's ability to subsist, Aurora is creating a documentary that will include interviews with local elders and community members about the natural history of the area, the importance of the salmon population for the Bristol Bay region, and the historical and current importance of subsistence for the Dillingham community.

Heidi Kritz, Dillingham

Description
Heidi recognized that people at Mt. Edgecumbe High School (MEHS) don't know how important the local salmon population is for both the native people and the land. In collaboration with Jaymes, another MEHS student, Heidi plans to educate students about salmon through a monthly newsletter, which will include interviews with elders and community members about the importance of local salmon -- as well as surveys and quizzes (with prizes!) that will engage the student community. Heidi also plans to implement fish "taste tests" with the intent of partnering with "Fish-to-School" to start biweekly fish lunches at MEHS.

Jasmin Johnson, Palmer

Description
As a senior member of the Palmer AYEA chapter (PAYEA), Jasmin was concerned by the lack of underclassman involvement in PAYEA, as well as a lack of funds to send representatives to Juneau in March for the annual AYEA Civics & Conservation Summit. Jasmin decided to organize a fundraiser around this year's AYEA theme of wild Alaskan salmon and Alaskan grown food (which is especially important to the Palmer community!) in order to raise PAYEA funds & awareness.

Jaymes Kelly, Pilot Station

Description
Jaymes, a student at Mount Edgecumbe High School (MEHS), thinks that most people don't know that the local salmon population is in jeopardy, and he is on a mission to educate students at his school about the important connections between a healthy fish population and a healthy environment. In collaboration with Heidi, another MEHS student, Jaymes plans to educate students about salmon through a monthly school newsletter, which will include interviews with elders and community members about the importance of local fish populations, basic information about the salmon lifecycle, threats to salmon habitat (what he calls 'fishformation') -- as well as surveys and quizzes (with prizes!) that will engage the student community.

Ruby Steedle, Juneau

Description
At the AYEA Fall Project Planning Summit, Ruby realized that she had no idea how many local foods and plants could be grown in Juneau -- and most students (and teachers) also don't seem to know about all the things that can grow locally! Ruby's YO project is to raise awareness about all of the local produce that can be grown locally in Juneau through classroom presentations, getting plants and 'mini gardens' into classrooms, and ultimately partnering with other community organizations in order to start a school garden.

Sandi Echuck, Togiak

Description
Sandi recognized that too much waste is generated by the use of paper towels in the school bathrooms in her community of Togiak. Sandy's project is to survey students, measure baseline waste, research electric hand dryer alternatives, and bring a proposal to the Togiak School principal outlining the need for electric hand dryers at the school. If successful, Sandi will partner with the Student Council and local community organizations in order to raise the needed funds for the electric hand dryers to be installed.

Want to become a Youth Organizer? Learn More about this activism opportunity for high school teens!