Youth Planning Board Member

Youth Planning Board members are community-minded and imaginative young people that want to make an impact in their communities and co-create change with their peers. 

Position Summary

The Academy for the Love of Learning invites young people, ages 14 to 20, to apply to our Youth Planning Board. Youth Planning Board Members will help the Academy create, design, and plan #TheLearning Spirit Youth Summit, a youth-led learning experience and ecosystem of co-creation.

Youth Planning Board members will participate in monthly meetings (one to three times a month) and practice facilitation, workshop design, program planning, and outreach. All Youth Planning Board members will co-prepare the agenda, activities, and learning questions for each Board meeting. The Academy will support this process by providing a theme and outcome guide for each Board meeting.

The Youth Planning Board will also invite and select Youth Summit guest speakers and review participant applications. The Youth Planning Board will continue to meet after the inaugural Youth Summit in order to reflect on learnings and prepare for the next Youth Summit. The Youth Planning Board experience will also serve as a reflection point for the Academy in co-creating and imagining with young people.

#TheLearning Spirit Youth Summit will be an in-person event from August 2 to August 6, 2024.

Who should apply to join the Youth Planning Board?

If you care about your community, want to connect with new people, and co-create positive change, this would be a great learning opportunity for you. You could be an artist, writer, activist, athlete, or still figuring out what you like to do.

By joining the Board, you will gain skills in facilitation, collaboration, leadership, workshop design, planning, and outreach. These skills can be applied to other extracurricular activities, school projects, or your own personal practices.

Our monthly meetings will serve as a space for you to explore your interests, stories, and creativity.

Requirements

• Location: Must be a resident of New Mexico
• Age: 14-20
• Availability: Attend meetings 1-3 meetings a month on Zoom or in person.
• Permission: If under the age of 18, you must have permission from a parent or guardian to participate.
• Work permit: If under the age of 16, you must get a work permit from your school in order to be a paid Board Member.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

1) Co-create Youth Planning Board conversation themes and agenda

• Co-lead, facilitate, and plan Youth Planning Board meetings based on theme guide provided by the Academy.
• Practice creating prompts, learning sessions, and facilitation.

2) Co-develop youth-driven recruitment and outreach suggestions for the Youth Summit

• Create best practices for reaching out to young people.
• If interested, participate in outreach and publicity efforts for the Youth Summit (not required). Publicity efforts will target youth-led podcasts and radio shows.

3) Co-plan and co-prepare the Youth Summit

• Brainstorm learning sessions and a list of guest workshop facilitators.
• Develop a Youth Planning Board learning session/activity.
• Create Youth Summit participant applications.
• Create rubrics for reviewing guest workshop proposals and Youth Summit applications.
• Review, approve, or pass on guest workshop proposals and Youth Summit applications.

4) Co-lead and participate in the Youth Summit experience

• Lead opening and closing sessions.
• Facilitate learning sessions.
• Document (photography, videography, visual scribing, interviewing, etc.) the Youth Summit.

5) Co-plan and prepare the next Youth Summit (2025)

• Track learnings and make meaning of inaugural Youth Summit experience in order to inform the design and learning objectives of the next Youth Summit.

6) Explore Youth Summit learning themes and learning objectives

• Participate in ongoing conversations about reimagining learning.
• Collectively practice reflection, story sharing, and expressing the impact of social issues in order to model these practices in the Youth Summit.

What are we planning? #TheLearningSpirit Youth Summit

August 2-6, 2024 | The Summit will be an in-person event.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for! #TheLearningSpirit Youth Summit will be a five-day, youth-led learning experience and ecosystem of co-creation, supporting young people in ushering in the new era of collective leadership.

As a group of learners, inquirers, imaginers, creators, and change-makers, we will reflect on two questions: What is mine to do in the world? And how can I organize actions or creative expressions around this mission, individually and collectively? The Summit’s learning themes will guide how we explore these questions.

• Who Am I? // Hear + Recognize Your Voice
• Who Are We? // Express and Share Your Voice
• What Is It? // Collective Voice and Action in the World

Together, we will share our stories, learn from each other, and practice reflecting on what we care about. Each learner will emerge from our shared experience with a personal keepsake, something they created, or an action, an activity to share with their community.