Soon after walking into Wednesday’s Evanston Youth Summit, Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl donned the purple T-shirt many students and coordinators were wearing.
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” the back of the shirt read, quoting President Barack Obama.
The summit was an opportunity for the city’s youth to make their voices heard, Tisdahl told the approximately 60 Evanston Township High School students in attendance.
“I need to hear from all of you,” she said.
The second annual Youth Summit, held at 3:30 p.m. in the ETHS cafeteria, was a chance for high school students to discuss challenges facing youth in the city. Sol Anderson, youth coordinator for the city’s department of Health and Human Services, hosted the $5000 event.
Participants identified violence and drugs as two significant problems within the Evanston community, said Allison Schaffer, a summit coordinator and a Communication junior. Students expressed concern about the lack of safe places to go, and they proposed the creation of a new community center with constructive opportunities for high school students.
During a brief panel discussion toward the beginning of the summit, panelist and SESP sophomore Meixi Ng shared her belief that young people have the ability to accomplish a lot.
“We have so much power as youth,” she said. “We have so much energy and creativity and enthusiasm.”
Ng briefly described volunteering she has done abroad, from Thailand to India, but she emphasized that students didn’t need to travel that far to make a difference.
“You don’t have to go to another country to see injustice,” Ng said. “I think it’s right outside your doorstep sometimes.”
The Evanston Youth Council, a group of students who helped organize the summit, has identified street violence, teen pregnancy and access to a health clinic as key challenges in the city, said member Sara Pitt, an ETHS senior.
Pitt said the summit was an opportunity to move toward action on these issues.
“We’re trying to get the momentum going and show people that if you want a change, you need to do it yourself,” Pitt said.
