Describe your experience attending the All Youth Connecting conference.

I attended the All Youth Connecting Conference from June 21-25th where there were many inspiring presenters. The focus of the conference was on how to best serve youth ages 16-24 who are out of school and out of work, sometimes referred to as opportunity youth or disconnected youth. Many presenters and attendees discussed the gaps between serving youth and the importance of involving youth in the process to ensure youth, like myself, have successful skills and lifestyles.
 

Describe your experience presenting at the All Youth Connecting conference.

My experience presenting at the All Youth Connecting Conference for 2020 was an experience I will never forget. Everything ran as smoothly as possible and I am very proud of my colleague, Kamri Moses, and I for elaborating on a topic that is very important for the operational world. I am also proud of being able to present on a national scale at such a young age, being 14 years old. The conference was an opportunity that most youth, especially African American youth, do not get to experience and I am proud to speak and pave the way for all youth to have a voice for our opinions to be taken seriously.

What was a memorable moment from the conference?

One presentation that specifically intrigued my attention, was focused on trauma, mental health, and youth leadership in the wake of the current social justice movement going on in our country. The presenters discussed the hashtag Black Lives Matter and went into detail about exactly why people should care and how it is important to sustain the unity of the human race. Being a young black man, it was interesting to hear about this movement, from a presenter who is not black. However, the presenter’s partner is African-American and he expressed his strong opinion that he believes people who look like his partner should not be discriminated against and should be embraced among all races. I found it interesting and somewhat refreshing to see someone who is not a part of the black community be so passionate about preserving and supporting us. I was also relieved to see that both presenters relied less on their PowerPoint and statistics to convey their points, but instead came off as if they were speaking purely from their hearts.