Being a youth in this day in age has progressively proven to be more difficult than even five years ago. With new drug, sex and violent temptations, it can be hard for kids to keep afloat. "I think if we can get kids involved and having some ownership of their community we are far more likely to see positive impacts," said Jodi N., an Envision counsellor and public educator. The benefits of allowing children to feel involved and adhere to their needs creates endless possibilities for their future said Jodi. Jodi is also a part of a group called Investing in Youth, which meet monthly. "We meet with every youth category to see what their needs are, what they feel they are missing, and we've seen the impact it has that they feel like they are being heard, that the adults are here and they are paying attention to what they feel."I think there are multiple benefits. If the youth in our community feel more invested and more connected with the community, they are more likely to be positively involved," she said. Alicia Gooding, play park supervisor, said a benefit to getting involved in the community at a young age is that it builds people skills for the future. "I think everybody needs to work with people they don't know and feel a little uncomfortable so when you get older and you're in the community working, you can relate to different people. I think it's good for kids to be out of their comfort zone and learn something new," said Gooding. Jodi agrees that those who have an educated sense of the community they live in grow into well-rounded individuals. "It contributes to a strong work ethic, it contributes to a sense of family on a bigger level. A lot of people in Estevan have been here a long time, their families have been here a long time, so being able to see a direct, positive result of things they are doing and feeling like everybody cares about them, not just immediate family. I think it's going to help retain people in this community," said Jodi. Listening to the needs and views of the youth in the community is sometimes something most adults ignore because of their own beliefs on what they think community youth should be doing. "I think as adults we have an idea of what we would like to see the youth in our community doing or what we suspect their interests might be, but speaking to the youth themselves it is really very different than we maybe would have anticipated."As adults base what we think the youth would like or be interested in on our own experiences, as youth, and that is very different even if we're five, 10 or 15 years out of being in the youth category. Things have changed drastically," said Jodi. With new technological inventions and the increase in youth's accessibility to these advancements, it's up to the adults to find ways of keeping kids engaged and providing them the knowledge of how to get involved. "We really have to be forward thinking in finding ways to attract the youth to more positive community focused activities," said Jodi. When adults take the time to actually sit down and hear out the youth in the community, they will usually discover the appreciation kids have for someone who takes interest in what they have to say. "They have just been so flattered that some adults in the community have thought to ask their opinions and ask what they would want."We can have an agenda of what things we think they would like to see, but without their input, chances are it won't be successful," said Jodi. As for staying active, Gooding said the play parks and camps ran out of leisure services are a step in the right direction."I find that a lot more kids today play video games than they used to and to get them outside in the fresh air and get some of that energy out is really good. I think it's important for kids to learn new things and be able to experience that with new people. "With all my sports camps I've had a really good response. With the outside camps kids really want to learn new things and I think it's good for Estevan," said Gooding.
