By: Tom Markland
MARTINSBURG — Students from Martinsburg and Spring Mills High Schools gathered in the Community Room at the Martinsburg Police Department for an annual youth leadership summit, the second of its kind put together by other local students.
The event aims to give seventh- and eighth-graders the resources to become leaders in their communities while also teaching them about civic engagement. Activities covered topics like how to get involved in the community, finding things that need improvement, and how to take action to fix them.
Aicha Sy, a graduate of Spring Mills High School now studying political science and public policy at George Washington University, brought the event to Martinsburg last year when she was a senior at Spring Mills.
“I wanted to find a way to still give back to my community, while still pursuing my education in a city that’s better for my major,” Sy said. “So, coming back for the youth summit is a great way for me to give back all the things I’ve been learning in D.C.
“I wanted to give back to the community and make sure I put back the same effort that the community put in me when I was here,” Sy added.
Joining Sy in organizing the event were Sydney Bostic and Averianna Keys, both seniors at Spring Mills.
Throughout the day, students participated in activities like vision boarding, mock voting, community budgeting, community map planning and how to write a letter to a public official. The letters they wrote will go to Martinsburg Mayor Kevin Knowles, and one student will have a chance to be mayor for a day.
When the summit started last year, the organizers first approached Knowles with the idea. He said working with them has been an enlightening experience.
“What was most interesting to me is I got to watch all these young kids in middle school and high school come together and put plans together to be able to think about the future,” Knowles said. “It gave me a new perspective on how the younger generation is coming up.”
Students attending the summit were chosen from leaders of various clubs and organizations in each school, such as student government and Renaissance clubs. The organizers hope the students take what they learned with them, use it to get involved in their communities and also share what they learned with their classmates.
“We want to make sure they continue the stride after today — of being involved and also taking what they learned today and bringing it forward to the other students that weren’t able to attend this event today,” Bostic said.
Next year, the organizers are planning on continuing the summit, potentially bringing in students from Hedgesville High School and other surrounding schools.
“We want to do a combined Eastern Panhandle Mayor Summit,” Sy said. “As the years go on, the events are slowly getting bigger and bigger, so we’ll just continue with that.”