One of my greatest joys and accomplishments is my work with the Merced County

Youth2Youth program. The Youth2Youth program is an international organization that focuses

on empowering and teaching middle school students to live drug and alcohol free lives. Every
year the Merced County Youth2Youth program plans and puts on a conference for over 300
middle school students from all over Merced County. The first Youth2Youth conference was
founded in 1982 in Columbus, Ohio with a goal of using peer influence as a positive force for
youth to live drug and alcohol free lives. Now in 2015 there are many conferences held all over
the world. Currently, Merced County is the only county in the state of California to still put on a
Youth2Youth conference. The conference is planned and ran by high school students who
volunteer their time to see a change in our community. I have been involved with this program
since I was in the 6th grade and have been able to teach and instill the skills needed to live a drug
and alcohol free life in the middle school students of my community. For the last 3 years I have
served on the Merced County Youth2Youth Officer Team, also known as the A-Team. I, along
with 7 other individuals are the backbone of the Youth2Youth Organization. More specifically,
my job within the Merced County Youth2Youth program is to produce ideas and concepts for
conference themes, t-shirts designs, workshops, keynote speakers, games and activities, food
options, and the coordination of staff and conference training materials and venues. I am also
responsible for training the other high school staff and making sure that the conference goes as
smoothly as planned. I take pride in the work I have done and am currently doing with Merced
County Youth2Youth. Over the course of the 7 years I have been able to see thousands of middle
school students devote their lives to saying no to drugs and alcohol and teaching their peers to do
the same. I love being able to help change the lives of the youth for the better and to help make
my community a better place.