My experience lobbying in Springfield was somewhat upsetting to me. I went to lobby with Representative Susana Mendoza , she did not come out. My peers and I were waiting for about two hours , we send 3 cards to her. The trainings on the 12 were great we did skits on what young parents go through and talked about Youth Activisim. It was a great experience.

SearsTower  what would chicago be without  it people say  Willis while we chicagoens say sears .. what would chicago be without  navypier.. Oh!! so nice the ferris wheel  and the  Garret popcorn Oh!! so delicous. Chicago city  were there is hope and dreams to follow. The Lake  Oh!!  the lake  how many souls have you felt. People say the shottings, taggings, and youth are just not what makes chicago. Why listen to the young. Why I chicago can tell you why  A tagging that is not beautiful to you can be beautiful to the person making it and youth well lets just say the future  that is us and Chicago is what I call Beauty. ~~ Samantha Parra 
 

 

It always seemd to me that when someone is stressed out , it is because there''s to much on there plate.There is things in your life that you need to eleminate. Taking your time day by day is the best thing you can do when under stress.Always remember that you need to give yourself time to relax. It may not seem like you don't have time for yourself, but there's time you just got to give it to yourself.

Dear, Mom & Dad
   I know you always want whats best for me and my future. But today I'm being asked to make decisions without any knowledge to base my decisions on. Everyday at school I see and hear about my peers making choices about engaging in sexual activity. The time  is coming for me to make these decisions too. With the abstinence only program used in my school I am not being given the acurate information I need to make informed wise decisions about my health. Today please use  your voice to speak for me and my classmates. Please tell my city's school board to implement a comprehensive sexual education program in my school. My health and happiness could depend on it. 
                                                                                Love, Your Son Your Daughter and Your Future

  The first time in the urban retreart I was so nervous.There was about 120 youths that came from different states and also youth that came from Africa . I learned alot about myself and others.As well  as  others learned from each other as well.I was in the Grassroots Organizing Training and we talked about some stratagies on how to bring your community in and what kind of leader you were. The  kinds of  leaders were task, visionary, ethicinal leader, and more . Also  there was discussions on Paul Wellstone the greatest guy there was when it came to Grassroots Organizing. During the training we went over some of his stratagies.
 
    Personally  I never heard of Paul Wellstone and those who haven't look him up. Also as this being my first time to the urban retreat and being part of the IYPC , I enjoyed Lobbying  , Lobbying sounds scary because you  don't know if you are going to get turned down by your officials (in support to the REAL ACT) but one thing youth have to remeber is if it wasn't for our mothers , Fathers, Friends, Teachers (the people) our elected officials wouldn't be in office.