SHAPING THE SHAPINGFUTURE THE FUTURE AT THE LAUNCH PAD

The Launch Pad’s T.A.C. Guidebook Furthers the Better Together Campaign Progress.

Maddie Stanik has been a part of The Launch Pad’s Better Together campaign for two years, initially helping as a researcher to gather surveys around the community and now as an active member of the Teen Advisory Council and author of the Better Together guidebook. She has lived in Prescott all her life and is currently a junior at BASIS Prescott.

In a world filled with uncertainties and tribulations, our youth are often deprived of the chance to feel unconditional acceptance and realize the value of their voices. In an effort to address these concerns within Yavapai County, the Launch Pad was created as an institution that is not only for teens but, more importantly, by teens. At the Launch Pad (TLP), teens are given the opportunity to reach their full potential with the complete support of compassionate adults. Beyond providing extracurricular programs and life skills to the youth, TLP empowers teens to share their ideas and stories in an environment that recognizes their immense value and potential.

Lia Killeen joined TAC in September of 2022 with the hope of becoming a voice of change within the Prescott community. Lia is a member of the 2024 graduating class at Prescott High School and enjoys reading, spending time with family, and exploring outdoors in her free time. After graduation, Lia intends to pursue a degree in anthropology, using what she has learned during the Better Together Campaign to further explore the values which bind people together.

Year-round, teens have the opportunity to engage in clubs and programs that are meaningful and relevant to their lives. Outside of numerous weekly clubs, TLP hosts a variety of fun summer camps and workshops, such as Art Camp, Adventure Camp, Games for Days, and Band Lab, where teens can dive deep into their interests with like-minded friends. Project Launch, a pertinent chance to practice workforce readiness by learning essential skills such as time management and interviewing, also takes place during the summer. Additionally, all TLP programs and events, most notably the annual Women’s Empowerment Breakthrough Conference (WEB), Boys to Men, One-n-Ten, and Q Prom embrace the diversity among youth. TLP ensures that no matter who a teen may be, they have the chance to find and express themselves as a valuable member and leader of the community.

For teens that are devoted to enacting change within Yavapai County, the Teen Advisory Council (TAC) offers a unique space in which youth are provided the resources they need to take action in addressing the problems they recognize within our community. Over the years, TAC teens have led numerous projects aimed at addressing issues affecting the community’s youth. For the past year, these teens have been working on their current project, Better Together, to create a guidebook on civil discourse.

The focus of the guidebook is centered around mending the division that was highlighted during the initial surveying process of the Better Together campaign. Written by the teens of TAC, the guidebook gives a voice to the youth of the community in their plea for a more united town while simultaneously remarking on the alarming data results of the Better Together Survey. The Guidebook is meant as an inspirational tool in the hopes that small groups, families, and larger communities may be able to put aside their differences and connect on a deeper, human level while practicing conversational skills over a shared meal.

As the teens voiced in their guidebook, “We all care deeply about the Prescott community, but as we continue to witness horrifying conflict between citizens, we realize that the version of Prescott that we all wish to see is not being upheld…We believe that by learning how to engage in civil discourse, we can begin to close some of the cracks that threaten to pull us apart. The goal of our guidebook is to provide a skill set of communicative techniques that empower people to voice their opinion in a way that invites considerate conversation and encourages empathy in a setting that is conducive to both understanding and growth….Beyond providing a step-by-step outline that encourages conversation and connection over food and family, we hope that by raising awareness on the divisive topics of our community we can prepare to safely tackle difficult conversations in a multitude of settings…and finally make Prescott everybody’s hometown.”

Currently, TAC is reaching out to families interested in tapping into the wisdom of youth and using the Guidebook to facilitate group dinners. While actively moving forwards with the Better working to connect with the Prescott community at large. By volunteering through civic engagement projects such as Prescott’s annual Earth Day celebration and the Chalk It Up! festival, teens have the opportunity to demonstrate reciprocity, giving to the community with an ultimate vision of cultivating togetherness in return, thereby representing a greater goal of The Launch Pad.

The future of our community, our county, and our world is being shaped in this very instant as the entirety of a new generation is faced with current and constantly evolving challenges. With the help of organizations such as TLP, teens are provided with the occasion to exercise their agency and tackle the complex problems of the contemporary world. The greatest struggle of teens is not to find a way to use their voice, but to realize that they have one at all. At the Launch Pad, teens are not only encouraged to find their voices, but to use them, so that they may create a tangible difference in their own lives and in the lives of so many others.

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