By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Summer vacations are coming to a close with school resuming in less than a month. Six area Youth Crew members put in some final road time for the Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America (CADCA) Youth Conference in Grapevine, Texas earlier this month. Juvenile Services Prevention Advocate Tyler Morton said the convention just outside of Dallas was a big one.
"I think there were 2,400 attendees that went down there this year, and 500 youth this year, so a lot of people," he said. "It's an opportunity for the kids to learn more from other coalitions across the country. We had people that even traveled from around the world as well."
Holly Bowyer with the Center for Counseling in Great Bend also attended the conference. She outlined the work Youth Crew is doing in Great Bend, Ellinwood, and Hoisington, including the recent Kick the Habit kickball tournament, addressing vaping in schools, and promoting positive places for youth in the community. She thought the conference was good for local attendees.
"Some of our kids are fairly new to this," she said, "but it seems to have given them more self-confidence in doing the work they're doing and realizing it really does make a difference."
Makinzie Beneke, a freshman at Great Bend High School, was one of six Youth Crew attendees to attend the conference. She learned about Youth Crew through the Reality U program, and also learned plenty on the Texas trip.
"The conference taught me multiple things," she said. "I got to learn so much more than what I knew about. I really took away that even though we're all youth, that together we can put our voices together and actually make a change."
Jasmine Figueroa, a junior at GBHS, attended last year's CADCA meeting in Orlando, Fla. As a returner this year at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, she attended a different set of meetings alongside Morton that included sessions with lawmakers and groups without youth advisory groups.
"We felt like what they were saying and how she was feeling as a youth herself were not aligning," Morton said. "We actually took some time afterward to meet with them and suggest maybe a youth advisory council for them. Jasmine got some recognition for that, so that was awesome."
Figueroa recalled one session that included experts from the medical and legislative fields in Colorado. The topic was marijuana usage.
"They learned about some new research that correlates marijuana usage and early onset, genetically-predisposed conditions such as dementia, schizophrenia, and heart disease, and how you can have them earlier with marijuana usage. I just fell in love with all that medical information and the prevention work coming together."
Hoisington eighth grader MaKiah Webber and Great Bend eighth grader Grace Vandine also made the trip. Webber started with Youth Crew as a sixth grader and is pleased to see the program growing in Hoisington.
"We actually have some fifth graders last year that joined," she said. "Even though they can't be a part of Youth Crew yet, they still attended meetings even though they can't join events. It's nice to know our community is spreading."
Youth Crew members had to submit an application before attending the trip. Attendees were selected on their participation in the program, attendance at meetings, and what they bring to the group. Recent GBHS graduate Aaron Deason and Ellinwood sophomore Alvin Bowyer were also selected. The Barton County crew was selected to give a presentation in front of the other 500 attendees.