Teens do important work on non-profit boards
By Hayley Maskus, 17 and Joe Bowers, 15, with contributions by Keirrah Grifka, 9

Teens have often been known for their laziness and rebellious attitudes, but it might surprise many that teens in the Marquette area are getting more involved in their community.

Young people have full seats on a number of local non-profit agency boards and there have also been teen advisory boards established for a number of area agencies and organizations.

A law was passed in Michigan several years ago that made it legal for young people at the age of sixteen to sit on non-profit and community boards and have full voting rights and full responsibility. Some local organizations have seats on their boards filled by teens, including the Great Lakes Center for Youth Development and the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum. Meanwhile, a number of organizations have chosen to have teen advisory boards, including the Lake Superior Village housing development in Marquette, the Peter White Public Library, the Marquette Community Foundation, the YMCA and others.

For many years, the Lake Superior Village (LSV) has had a youth and family center in the middle of the large housing development in north Marquette. It’s there that the LSV Teen Council tries to promote a sense of community by hosting holiday and other special events and programs.

Katie Dorony, eighteen, who is a member of the LSV Teen Council, feels these types of youth groups are important.

“ It can help people out, and it helps (young) people make decisions,” Dorony said.

Justin Brown, twelve, who is also a part of the Lake Superior Village Teen council, agrees the group is important.

“ It gets kids more active,” he said. “You can have fun and hang out with your friends.”

Karen Kasperzak, the adult advisor for the group, said she gets satisfaction from watching the members plan various activities for families in the Lake Superior Village.

“ My favorite experience is watching them go through the process of planning these events, inviting their families to come, and just really taking charge and leading the events,” Kasperzak said. “Each teen gets to pick something that they want to lead at a family event, and it’s really fun for them.”

Peter White Public Library’s Teen Advisory Board consists of dozens of teens and their one advisor, a youth services librarian. They have done many projects, mostly youth generated, including remodeling the Teen Area on the first floor.

Lara Stephens-Brown, sixteen of Marquette, explains what typically happens at the TAB meetings.

“ Most of the time we design things that teens do at the library. We help out with band shows and we set up the teen area,” she said. “Last year we did ‘Live Clue’ (an event based on the classic board game) and that was really good.”

According to Stephens-Brown the TAB provides an important link between the Library and teens in the community.

“ We tackle issues of integrating teens into the library because most people usually see the library as for little kids and for adults,” she said. “We are trying give (teens) a place to use the library and make it work for them.”

The Marquette Community Foundation’s Youth Advisory Committee’s job is to fund programs generated towards youth activities and other programs involving youth. The grant funds come from donations given to a youth fund endowment. They also have a dozen youth, middle school to high school age, who commit themselves to this organization.

Kelly Sprouse, fourteen, of Marquette, is a member of the Youth Advisory Committee. She said the “Y.A.C.” members have their share of fun at meetings but there is some serious business taken care of as well.

“ We actually have a lot of fun, but we go over some proposals from people who ask for grants,” she said. “We will decide how we feel about the grant, how we feel about the organization.”

According to Sprouse, along with handing out grants from the Youth Fund, the members also volunteer for most of the groups and events that are funded.

“ We just try to get things done,” Sprouse said.

Whether or not being a part of the group is important was the question posed to Katy Martin, sixteen, of Marquette, who is also apart of the Y.A.C.

“ I believe so, I think anything that gives you a kind of a stake in the community is going to interest youth and if they’re maybe looking to make a difference in their own lives, you know this is the way to go,” Martin said. “To actually go to the roots of different organizations in the community and take an active roll in them is important.”

Getting youth involved could be hard, but Corey Miles, fifteen, of Marquette and another Y.A.C. member, agrees it’s important.

“ Just get them involved, ask their opinion on it. See what they think needs to be done,” Miles said.

The Great Lakes Center for Youth Development is a Marquette-based agency that supports non-profit organizations in the Upper Peninsula that benefit youth and healthy communities. According to Judy Watson Olson, the CEO of the Center, they have four young people on their board––two from Marquette County and two from Alger County.

“ When you really start to think about it, everything in the community can impact young people,” Watson Olson said. “And if they can, at a young age, sit side-by-side with adults and work with the people in the community that serve, they have so many things that they can contribute.”

Watson Olson added that her agency feels youth both have the right, and the responsibility, to help guide and shape the future of our communities.

“ We want to have them involved and we want to have them at the table,” she said. “They’re realistic; young people will sometimes call it like it is and adults might not do that.”

The Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum in Marquette also has one seat on its board of directors filled by a youth.

Nheena Weyer Ittner, the Children’s Museum director, said while it is not always easy for the youth on the Museum board to feel brave enough to voice their opinion in front of adult leaders from the community, the different youth who have served in the position have come up with some fresh ideas.

“ Since we are a youth-serving organization we wanted to help keep youth at the forefront,” Weyer Ittner said. “We like the other board members to keep the importance of listening to young people on their minds.

If you want to know more about your local teen boards, ask someone who’s involved, the advisors of the teen boards, people in your community, look in your local phonebook, or online for the agency’s contact information.