Students Across the Seacoast Gather for Annual Youth Empowerment Conference

The Granite Youth Alliance program recently hosted their second annual Igniting Change conference at the Seacoast School of Technology in Exeter. The day long training brought together youth interested in working with other students to reduce the harm caused by substance abuse.

Over 50 youth attended the conference. The students were from drug prevention groups in Epping, Exeter, Dover, Newmarket and Milton.

Keynote speaker Chucky Rosa, a Seabrook resident, shared his story about how substance misuse impacted his life. Two of Rosa’s sons died as a result of drug addiction. Rosa hoped to inspire the youth advocates attending the conference to take on the drug problem and make a difference in their communities.

Throughout the day students participated in workshops to learn more about the substance misuse problem in their community and trainings designed to develop their skills such as presentation and media development skills. A series of workshops focused on providing youth with ideas of how they can take action in their community such as presenting short skits or creating a radio public service announcement.

The conference also served as the launch of the 2015 Granite Youth Film Fest. The film fest is a unique opportunity for young filmmakers to write, direct, shoot, and star in their own productions about drug and alcohol abuse, peer pressure, youth leadership and other issues. The films will be premiered at the Epping O’Neal Cinema next June. Students began developing their film ideas and learned film production techniques.

Much of the training was provided by the student members of Dover Youth to Youth. The Dover group works closely with the Granite Youth Alliance’s member youth groups to help them get started and assist them in learning how to conduct drug prevention activities.

The Granite Youth Alliance (GYA) is a youth leadership strategy which focuses on reducing substance misuse. GYA provides information and skills training to youth participants to empower them to take action on substance misuse-related issues in their community. GYA is supported by Allies in Substance Abuse Prevention and the United Way of the Greater Seacoast.

For more info visit GraniteYouth.org.

Submitted text. Courtesy photo.