Student Take Over InFocus

We Are Goodyear!

By: Natalia Piatek, St. John Paul II Catholic High School

The Goodyear Youth Commission has taken over this month’s edition of InFocus! We heard of a youth commission outside of Arizona who did something similar. They wrote a couple of articles for their city’s community newsletter, and we thought that was a fun idea. When we proposed the idea to do this with InFocus, the Digital Communications Department said yes!

Over the past few months, we’ve been working on articles related to topics that are of interest to us. We did the research, conducted the interviews and took the photos. It’s been a great experience, and we’re excited to share this extra special edition of the magazine with you.

You might be wondering, what is the Goodyear Youth Commission? It’s a wonderful leadership program offered by the city of Goodyear that gives high school students in Goodyear, like me, the opportunity to learn more about local government, serve other people through volunteering and become more involved in the community as a team.

Visiting Washington, D.C. for the National League of Cities Congressional Cities Conference.

Handing out candy and scaring a few kids at the Goodyear Fall Festival.

Representing Goodyear at the League of Arizona Cities and Towns Annual Conference Parade of Flags with Councilmember Sheri Lauritano.

Learning about the Goodyear General Plan update and providing input.

End of a great night volunteering at Hop & Hops.

We meet once a month, and city staff shares information about different things happening in the city, like updating the General Plan, which I learned will guide future development in the city. We do a lot outside of the meetings, too. Commissioners have represented Goodyear at the League of Arizona Cities & Towns parade, volunteered at Make a Difference Day and dressed up to hand out candy during the Fall Festival. All of us commissioners are eager to build our leadership skills by learning from role models. We’re motivated to become good citizens that others will want to follow. It is such a special thing to be part of. I believe it is important for youth to help their community and be involved in it, and the commission gives so many high school students that opportunity. You’ll learn more about the youth commission in this issue of InFocus, including how you can join us!

2022-23 Youth Commission Members: (from left) Christian Garcia, Lucy Castro, Amaani Singh, Alan Torres Arroyo, Lucas Hamblin, Lex Landefeld, Emily Shanafelt, Paloma Sanchez, Michaela Grumbling, Alanah Doyle, Mia Doyle, Robert Garcia, Mackenzie McEldowney, Kaleigh Guajardo, Krislyn Lyons, Azyus Byrd

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