Jessica

Ontario

Issue: Peer Pressure
Why? Youth should be true to themselves when making decisions in life and shouldn’t worry about what others think.

Updated: 2011-07-16

I haven’t made too much progress. I was able to do another mini presentation while I was at camp this past week. I haven’t gotten many people involved other than myself. I hope to go back up to camp sometime this summer and do it again and possibly get some people there involved, if not I hope to get some of my youth group involved.

Updated: 2011-05-01

What issue did you choose to address in your Action Plan? The issue I chose to address in my Action Plan is peer-pressure and fitting in. Youth should be true to themselves when making decisions in life and shouldn’t worry about what others might think of them. In today’s society youth have so much pressure directed at them and many youth change for the worst to fit in with people.

Why did you choose that issue? I chose this issue because it is really important to me, especially the message “Be true to Yourself.” I’ve always tried to be true to myself and do what I love, and I’ve had to make sacrifices in my life, including changing friends half way through high school. It hasn’t always been the easiest path but in the end I’m definitely happy and proud of the choices I’ve made. I’ve also seen a good friend change to fit in with people she calls friends and she’s not making good choices. I want youth to feel good about who they are and not to feel the need to change.

How are you going to address the selected issue? I plan on addressing my issue multiple ways. First I want to speak to youth who are transitioning in their lives from elementary school to middle school and high school. I feel youth are most vulnerable at this stage because there are so many changes going on and everything can be overwhelming. I hope to share a positive message and to let youth know it is possible to stay true to themselves and to not give into peer pressure. Another thing I plan on doing is supplying youth with alternative activities to do with friends so they don’t feel obligated or pressured into partying, drinking, swearing or drugs.

What do you hope to achieve in the next year? What I hope to achieve over the next year is to make a difference in someone’s life. This is something I might not see personally because some of the youth I’m only going to be talk to for a short time. But I could influence someone to be true to themselves then I achieved my greatest goal. Other achievements would be to grow my youth group for next year, I’m on a leadership team with my youth group and my job is to plan activities and events. Hopefully I can get people to come to them and surround themselves with good friends.

What progress have you made so far? I have made some progress with my action plan although it is going a little slower than I thought. It’s definitely a lot easier to plan and talk about what I want to be done but carrying out my plan has been a bit of a struggle. What I have done so far is continued working on alternative ideas of activities to be done with friends. I have also done my first mini presentation with my Sunday School class, I’m also planning events that youth are able to come out to and have a fun time. I hope the group I am working with will get onboard with my action plan and help out. I’m also talking to the manager of a camp I attend to see if I am able to visit during the summer and talk to the campers about peer-pressure and fitting in and “Be true to Yourself”. I am also working on getting a facebook page up and running to share ideas. I’ve had some struggles figuring out where to start and how to fit it into my schedule, but I feel I’m starting to get things worked out.