Written by Josh Ko, Youth Workforce Development Manager.
The youth stayed for the Heroes at Work afterparty hosted by Youth Council!
There is so much to celebrate after our momentous Heroes at Work event—seeing our youth shine and celebrating them for starting their exciting, interesting internships this summer. I wanted to highlight what happened right after the event—a youth-initiated and produced afterparty. This idea came to us through one of our project groups at Youth Council—our intrepid cohort of youth focused on leadership development. I challenged them to come up with a project idea that educated other youth about what they’ve learned through Enterprise for Youth. David, Jasmine, Katie, Melissa, and Naomi had a lot of different ideas, but they eventually decided on organizing a way to keep the party going after our internship kickoff celebration.
Flyer design collaboration between Youth Council and Enterprise Communications Director
Throughout the process, our youth learned about how much thought goes into real event planning after learning about it theoretically at a Youth Council Workshop. They assigned themselves roles and organized a group chat to maintain communication. They met weekly with the Heroes at Work planning team and at monthly Youth Council Meetings. They tested out different games, invited their mentors to attend, created an inspirational video that played during the event, came up with a marketing slogan, and organized the run of the show. All of that was completed with optimism, energy, and creativity. After months of prep, it was time for June 10th to arrive!
Youth Council Members lead a breakout room to play a game at the Heroes at Work After Party
As Lamiya concluded Heroes at Work, our intrepid team revved their engines. Jasmine and David began holding court, encouraging youth and Enterprise community members to stay on for the afterparty festivities. The music was blasting, cameras were twitching on and off, and we were off to the races! The team later told me that they were really nervous as they realized how many people were staying on. Naomi wondered if she’d be able to accommodate everyone as she set up breakout room spaces for games and activities. However, the team was prepared, looking back to all the practice scenarios we’d thought about weeks prior, and over 100 people got to participate in fun games and networking activities to better connect with their fellow interns and Enterprise volunteers.
Moving forward through this pandemic, I realize how starved we are for connection, even as we continue to work to return to a sense of normalcy. I’m proud of our Youth Councilors for working so hard to create a space where that connection and fun could occur. We love seeing youth realize their voice and their power, and we’d love for you to witness this as well.