Shippensburg University’s Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA), with the help of Greek Life, held its 11th annual Y.O.U.T.H. (Young people Onward Upward Towards higher Heights) Summit on Saturday, in honor of Black History Month and youth empowerment. The event was held in Dauphin Humanities Center and was open to the youth of Cumberland County.
The purpose of the Y.O.U.T.H. Summit is to uplift youth of all ages, genders and backgrounds, according to Iiesha Hamilton, a senior and MSA student worker.
“We want the younger generation to know that they can make a big impact on the world and have a say in the future, and we want to teach them how,” Hamilton said.
The theme of this year’s Y.O.U.T.H. Summit was “Making Heroes and Sheros.” The term “sheros” served as a reminder to the participants that heroes are not gender defined by the “he” in hero, and that females can make an impact on the world, too.
The program ran from 11a.m.-1 p.m., and was split into three sessions followed by a lunch at Reisner Dining Hall. The first session was an opening presentation titled, “What Makes you a Hero or a Shero?”
“In the opening I wanted to get across that heroes aren’t the superheroes that are read about in comic books,” Hamilton said, who was one of the opening speakers. “A hero can be a man or a woman from any background. A hero can be sitting right next to you, and it’s not always those who you may expect. As long as that person has a deeper perspective about life and wants to make a change in the world, anyone can be a hero.”
During the second portion of the summit the boys and girls were split up into two groups and took part in a variety of gender and age-specific workshops. These workshops encouraged them to learn hands-on what exactly heroes and sheroes do, interact with one another and then apply the concepts that they learned.
Josh Broshkevitch accompanied a group of youth he brought to the Y.O.U.T.H. Summit from the Chambersburg Memorial YMCA.
“I’ve brought children to this program for several years now,” Broshkevitch said.“There are a lot of benefits that come along with it and the youth walk away with new ideas and perspectives. When the boys and girls are split into two groups, it puts them in a comfortable environment where they can have a good discussion with one another about issues that pertain to them and figure out how to overcome these problems.”
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