Cedar students selected for Youth Leadership Athens
Three Cedar Shoals High School students have been selected to participate in the local Youth Leadership Athens program. Participants include sophomore Lauren Neace, junior Solomon Caplan, and junior Tatiana Velasquez.
Upon receiving the acceptance notification, Velasquez was excited about the opportunity.
“I had seen the notification through the newsletter from the school. I was interested because I’ve never seen or heard about it. I was really excited when I got the notification. I was happy.”
Throughout the program, students will have the opportunity to develop their leadership skills that will be used to improve their community, network with adults and with other students from local schools, and gain a sense of community and awareness of community issues.
Each month, students will attend sessions to explore Athens more in-depth through the local government, businesses, and the arts.
The second session surrounding local government was held on Feb. 3. Students spent the day with local Athens-Clarke County government representatives and agencies. Students explored the challenges and opportunities as Athenian leaders.
Students met with Mayor Kelly Gritz and learned about the operations of City Hall. Additionally, students visited the police station, a roadside engineering location, a water treatment plant and Ben Epps airport.
“It was pretty much the whole day teaching us about Athens, the government, and how it operates,” Caplan said. “We went to this roadside engineering place where they make road signs and traffic sign. They cost so much and they are also so much bigger than you expect. I thought it was pretty interesting.”
The next session will be held Feb. 8. Students will learn more about volunteering opportunities in the Athens area, meet with community nonprofit leaders and participate in activities to serve others in the Athens community.
Caplan hopes that the next session will involve volunteering and community service.
“I want to help out in the community. I hope I can gain some awareness on how stuff runs and what it means to be in the community and be a leader,” Caplan said.
On the other hand, Velasquez also hopes for more diversity in future programs.
“The (number of) applicants was about 75, and then 35 got chosen. But I was expecting more from Clarke County because a lot of Prince Avenue kids were there. So the majority of them are from Prince Avenue and Athens Academy,” Velazquez said. “So it’s pretty interesting to see them but there isn’t a lot of diversity. But it’s okay, just getting to meet new students from different places that I’ve never been.”
