Applications due for Sonoma Valley Youth Engagement Seminar

Each summer, 20 high school students explore local civic engagement during a two-week-long, Sonoma Valley Youth Engagement Seminar.

The last date to turn in applications for the seminar is Friday, May 24. The seminar runs June 17 to 28. Sessions will be daily from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Applications are available in the Sonoma Valley High School College and Career Center.

The program includes discussions concerning leadership and government, budget planning and advertising work for a lobbying project, visits with leaders of nonprofit organizations such as Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance, Sonoma Teen Services, and Sweetwater Spectrum, and meetings with various civic leaders such as Sonoma City Manager Cathy Capriola, Sonoma Mayor Amy Harrington, Chief of Police Orlando Rodriguez and Captain Brian Cyr of Sonoma Valley Fire & Rescue Authority.

An intensive program designed to engage youth with their Sonoma Valley community, YES was established through a collaboration between the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce and the City of Sonoma. The program is sponsored by Sonoma Valley Education Foundation and all participants will receive a stipend of $250 for the two-week session. The selection process involves a teacher recommendation, a formal application and an interview.

“We want the students to look on this as ‘a job’ and to treat it as such,” said Wendy Swanson, SVHS Work-Based Learning Coordinator who co-leads YES with SVHS teacher Veronica Gray.