The City of San Luis just wrapped up the first year for its youth council, the only one of its kind in Yuma County.
Seven teenagers from San Luis made up the council. They all attended San Luis High School. Vanessa Aguiar served as the first president. Judith Anderson was the Vice President.
The mission of the San Luis Youth Council is to empower young leaders and to develop and cultivate effective leadership skills.
This year the San Luis Youth Council worked alongside the Center for the Future of Arizona DemocraSeed Program on their youth council project that focused on sustainability.
Gibran Murrieta, age 16, was one of the council members. He said he and other youth council members learned a lot that will help them and future members best serve as leaders for their fellow young people in San Luis.
“We were able to do a small community cleanup with some of the members and some of our friends," Murrieta said. "That was a success for us because we saw how it would be able to work and how if we spread out to more organizations and to clubs and improve upon it, then we could be able to make a bigger change.”
The other council members this year were Ileen Lopez, Emmanuel Lopez, Jackie Anderson and Anney Romo.
In Somerton, city leaders are working to start a youth council.
