2023 Northwest Alcohol Conference Youth Track
This year for the first time in several years, in conjunction with the Northwest Alcohol Conference, we held a free Youth Track that was open to any youth age 13-18 in the United States. We had great representation from a total of four different states including Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. From these states, 48 youth and 12 adult chaperones spent two full days focusing on "Purpose, Leadership, and Action" through a variety of different presenters, workshops, and activities. The event kicked off with all youth and their chaperones joining the full conference for a welcome and recognition. Once being released to their breakout room, the work began!
Youth started their event with a sobering presentation by Natalie Marti who bravely shared her personal story of loss when she was involved in a DUII crash where her husband and baby were both killed and she was severely injured as a result of a drunk driver in another vehicle. Natalie's passion to end impaired driving was a great example and reminder of our purpose at the Northwest Alcohol Conference and Youth Track, to empower youth and adults to come together to collaborate, learn, network, and share ideas on drug and alcohol abuse prevention. Once Natalie concluded her presentation, youth leaders spent the remainder of the first day taking two different leadership/personality assessments where they were encouraged to dig a little deeper into who they are as individuals and leaders and explore what they bring to the table. The final session of day one was a discussion on media literacy that was picked up the next morning but not before the evening activity facilitated by Youth Mover, Brandon Lee White! Brandon led the group in a high energy lesson on line dancing while also teaching life lessons about accepting yourself and embracing your uniqueness. Students enjoyed his lighthearted personality and contagious energy!
Once students completed their second media literacy session in the morning of day two, they heard from School Resource Officer and Deputy David Gomez. Deputy Gomez presented on social media safety and from the moment he began speaking, he had the room's full attention, he was a great addition to the lineup! Finally, students ended the Youth Track with Melissa More who led them in the development of an action plan for a project that they can take home to complete in their own communities! Coalitions that complete their action plans can submit them to the NoWAC Board for a special stipend to assist them with financial needs to complete their project! This stipend is only available to the youth coalitions who attended the Youth Track and we can't wait to see what they come up with!
In addition to the sessions that the youth attended this year over the course of the two days, they participated in a variety of fun and educational activities/ice breakers, an activity where each person took time to recognize others in the room including youth, chaperones, and all presenters with traits that they admire and appreciate. Each coalition also spent time completing a poster that reflected their local communities, their coalition and individual purpose, who they are as leaders, and what their planned actions are in their communities. These posters were hung in the main conference ballroom to share with all attendees!
Lastly, we would be remiss to not mention our fantastic leader and emcee of the Youth Track this year, Miss Nicole Podesta! Nicole joined us from Little Rock Arkansas and brought with her a contagious laugh, genuine authenticity, a passion for youth and knowledge, and a really fun accent! Nicole made the Youth Track sparkle and we can't thank her enough for the sessions she taught and the way she led the room! We also need to thank the Idaho Office of Drug Policy who sponsored the speaker fees for the Youth Track and travel stipends for all Idaho coalitions!
We can't wait for 2025 and look forward on building on the work that we did this year!
