It was a conference by youth for youth. Nonprofit Campesinos Sin Fronteras’ third annual youth conference Friday brought 350 middle and high schoolers to Arizona Western College’s Yuma campus. This year’s focus was on mental health and wellness, a youth-picked topic according to CSF Youth and Family Services Director Laura Torres. Breakout group sessions covered healthy lifestyles, mindfulness, professionalism in social media, college readiness and community resources among others.
On top of selecting the topics, youth played a big part in leading the event. The conference’s emcees, Jesus Rojas and Nicolas Castañeda, are seniors from San Luis High School. SLHS students were also cheering students as they stepped off their buses and several of them served as group leaders, each presiding over a group of 50 kids from one session to the next.
The youth’s excitement was palpable as kids cheered, clapped and even competed to make the most noise during opening remarks. And those volunteering were also cheerful.
Marilyn Sanchez, a volunteer for CSF and an SLHS senior, led one group and commented that she hoped the kids would have fun.
“That's the first thing I wanted [for them]: to feel fun, like excited, because they're far, out of school to know better about mental health,” she said. “Because mental health’s something that they have to know because they are in middle school. After they graduate from middle school, they go to high school, and high school is more stressful – I can say it!”
As Sanchez had pointed out, the students were far outside of their usual stomping grounds. Attendees came from San Luis Middle School, Somerton Middle School, Southwest Junior High, Educational Opportunity Center Charter High School and San Pasqual Valley High School. For some, the event was their first visit to a college.
“For a lot of these students, they've never even left San Luis, Arizona, so coming out to the main campus is a big deal for them,” Torres said. “And so we just want to provide an opportunity for them to see what a college campus is like, to encourage them to seek higher education.”
And Friday’s event is just one of the ways CSF serves its community.
“We receive funding from the office of Secretary of Health and that allows us to provide services in the middle schools, and again, South Yuma County with positive youth development topics,” Torres explained. “Workforce readiness, college readiness, decision making, goal setting–you know, soft skills, right? Communication–we do a lot of public speaking as well. So just different skill sets that they may not learn with their core classes. We get to come in and just support the schools and the teachers with additional services.”
