NE Valley Times

During their recent board meeting, the Fountain Hills City Council heard a presentation on upcoming events by its youth council, such as team-building exercises, creating and hosting community events, providing youth input to the council and more.

During the meeting, Ryan Preston, the senior recreation program coordinator working with the Mayor's Youth Council (MYC), spoke on the youth council's work. "I don’t think I have enough time to really go into how incredible this group of... human beings these guys are. I mean, in addition to everything you've seen, they have you know, they're in multiple AP classes, They're heavily involved in clubs, in sports. And a lot of them even have part-time jobs on top of that... There's a lot of commitments that they have.

"And so they're doing an amazing job," He added. "I mean, they are, they really, you know, they're dedicated and they really want to make a difference in the town for the youth. And it shows in everything they do that we do with that. So thank you, Mayor, for always, you know, promoting this program and the positive impact it's making in the town."

Fountain Hills is proud to sponsor its Mayor’s Youth Council, a group in which students in grades 9-12 may apply to participate. The MYC does various things, including team building exercises, creating and hosting community events, providing youth input to the city council and mayor, experiencing networking opportunities and experiences, and increasing a sense of civic engagement and being a role model in their community.

Senior Anna Williams opened their presentation to the council, discussing their beginning of year team building exercise, which they did through the puzzle-solving games at Bam Kazam. The team also attended the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, where they were excited and honored to present and represent the flag of Fountain Hills. The MYC hosted the annual Teen Takeover, a huge community event entirely run by the MYC. They close the community center and re-open it just for teens, featuring games, food, activities and prizes.

Besides hosting a back-to-school bash for students and cleaning up the high school campus during Make A Difference Day, the MYC contributed to other local events. “We ran the teen takeover. Also for Irish Fest, we helped at the inflatables and helped put wristbands on people coming in. And at the Adopt a Street, we helped pick up trash around the fountain. We worked at the Egg Extravaganza and actually one of our members, Christopher, he was the Easter Bunny. So we got to like, hop around and we helped out the Earth Day event here. We helped kids with crafts made out of recycled materials,” said Williams.

The MYC has completed 296 volunteer and community service hours this year. Mayor Ginny Dickey was excited to hear the presentation and see members of the MYC present in front of the council. She thanked them for their continued involvement and the great example they set for their fellow students and all community members.