What did you know about the YL role before going into the work?
During COVID It was hard to reach out (to counselors), only so much can be done through email. In my school we have this advisory period called “College Application” and it gives students guidance on applying to school, applying to financial aid, all of that. There was this form and it was sent out to kids that showed academic excellence and promise, students who showed support in the school. I am one of those students, and I was interested so I applied.. I didn’t know what it was at first, just that it was to help in the college office, but apparently it was to be a Youth Leader and I was like ‘Oh yeah, I can do that, I want to help.’
How has returning to the school after quarantine affected your peers and their thoughts on their own post-secondary plan?
A lot of the students now are trying to do their own individual things (aside from college) because the pandemic opened a lot more opportunities when it comes to employment and gaining income. A lot of students feel discouraged about college. Some students go to college to make their parents happy or for approval so they feel an obligation at first, but the pandemic helped students find more resources and opportunities to get employment. Kids are leaning more towards trade school and more specific training programs. However, some are still going towards the college/university route just to get a degree and make their way towards what they want to do in the future.
What have you learned so far? And what are you hoping to gain?
In general being a Youth Leader is helping me become a better multi tasker, I’m working with other students AND doing my own college applications and my own research so being a YL is providing me more flexibility to sit down and organize how I’m going to plan for the future for my peers…It’s good to experience new ways to do that.
I’m hoping to gain more insight on my other peers. A lot of my peers are very quiet about their post-secondary options, they feel excluded from everybody else. They don’t want to go to college so I’m hoping to gain more of a connection with them and hopefully gain their trust so they can give me their knowledge and I can learn from that.