Local Student To Bring Rural Voice To State Youth Advocacy Group
Sonora, CA – A Tuolumne County student has been selected to be a member of the California Youth Council (CYC), and the last time that happened was in 2008.
The group is made up of high schoolers with different opinions and experiences from all areas of California. Summerville High School senior Audrey Patey, pictured in the image box, had this reaction to being chosen to join the 2022-23 council.
“Involvement in the California Youth Council is important to me… to help the community in a larger and more impactful way,” Patey comments. “I believe in the importance of making the community a better place as well as helping promote healthy decisions amongst young adults.”
Patey was nominated by the Amador Tuolumne Community Action Agency (ATCAA), which oversees Tuolumne County’s Friday Night Live (FNL) programs. The mission is “to build partnerships for positive and healthy youth development which engage youth as active leaders and resources in their communities,” according to state officials.
“Audrey is an outstanding leader and will make significant contributions to the California Youth Council,” praised ATCAA’s Director of Prevention and Youth Programs and the county’s YES Partnership, Bob White.
One commitment CYC makes is to raise awareness and provide a link with statewide initiatives related to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, traffic safety, and violence issues. Pointing to different issues many rural counties experience like lack of diversity, good education, and aid for youth struggling with mental health problems, Patey added, “I am also very interested in raising awareness of the consequences of doing drugs, vapes, and alcohol at a young age, which is definitely an issue among the young adults of today. This interest has led me to help with projects in Friday Night Live (FNL) [as part of the Summerville Bears Campus Action Group] that deal with a few of these issues.”
Patey will also serve as a student leader in FNL’s Summerville High chapter. At the end of the month, she will meet the other student members of the council at a CYC kick-off meeting.
