Teens Rally for the Community

With a goal to heighten youth civic engagement in their community, 117 Abington High School students attended the annual ACT Teen Forum at Abington Senior High School April 13. 

The daylong event, sponsored by the Abington Community Taskforce (ACT), gives teens a voice in their community.

The forum kicked off with inspirational keynote speeches by Abington Senior High School principal Jeffrey Fecher and associate principal Rodd McCuen.

Fetcher told the students, “We have faith in you, knowing that someone in this room may one day cure a disease or invent new technology. This generation is creative and has so many capabilities to learn about, and help solve, world problems.”

Fecher also said that, in a world where he encounters people who are quick to say negative things about teens, he is grateful that his position allows him to highlight so many positives. He emphasized to students that they were there because they can make a difference; their voice matters. 

McCuen talked about how much the students’ hard work and commitment to giving back to their school and community are appreciated.

ACT Teen Council advisor and forum coordinator Katie Gorbey said, “There are a lot of good things happening, but there’s always room for more good things to happen. There are students all over school who do incredible things that no one ever gets to find out about.”

The ACT Teen Council executive team of students provided leadership for the forum, dividing students into five groups that they led in undertaking projects to impact their school or community.  The areas of focus were beautifying the community and school, promoting student recognition, public relations and fundraising.

The group that focused on beautification gathered and painted rocks to build a memorial rock garden in Baederwood Park for Eddie Polec, whose tragic death spearheaded the formation of ACT in 1994. They also cleaned up trash and debris in the park and painted a mural that included the words “A Community That Cares.”

The student recognition group designed a bulletin board with the phrase “Caught in the ACT” to recognize student acts of caring for the school and community. The public relations group produced and shot two commercials explaining ACT’s role in, and benefit to, the community. 

And the junior high group devised ways to make junior high students feel more comfortable with their transition to the high school. The group then visited Abington Junior High, where it spoke about this transition and answered ninth-graders’ questions about the high school.

The first Teen Forum was held in 2003; adults planned and ran the event. Students attended workshops run by adults to determine areas of concern and brainstorm possible solutions.

Next, the ACT Teen Council was formed so that students could meet regularly throughout the school year with an adult ACT member advisor to determine areas of interest to pursue and fund raisers to enable projects. 

For the past two years, the ACT Teen Council executive board has taken the full weight of leadership in planning and executing the ACT Teen Forum, with adults providing support.