Alaska bears some of the most drastic statistics in terms of drug and alcohol abuse, which are associated with domestic violence. Changing those statistics have been the priority of the last two Alaska Governor’s. Hope is best seen coming at the hands of local youth and organizations such as the Youth Leadership Team (YLT) which is training tomorrow’s leaders today. But there is hope to be found occurring at the hands of our up and coming leaders: the Youth of the Kenai Peninsula. The YLT are teen leaders dedicated to working together in collaboration with 4-H and People Promoting Wellness through Community Action to form an alliance with youth who want to step up as leaders and create a better, safer community. According to YLT supervisor Stan Stedman, “In the beginning there were four outstanding youth leaders, Lindsey Floyd, Ben Wilson, Elizabeth Conner and Nathan Lervold, that devoted themselves to being involved with a Revolution of Responsibility by guiding other teen’s leaders into a supportive network,” he said.

“We went to Washington D.C. on a youth assessment trip and the assessment showed that a lot of youth didn’t know that it’s a minority of students that do drugs so we decided to promote wellness with students increasing their awareness that it’s only a minority of kids that do drugs while the majority are going in another direction of being drug free. So we celebrate the majority that are choosing healthy lifestyles and apply reverse peer pressure,” Lindsey Floyd told the Dispatch in an interview. “It was important for us to realize that not everyone does drugs like most people believe and learning leadership skills among our peers,” added Elizabeth Conner. “We were trying to think of something we could do for kids in the community who are doing good things, community service and contributing while being a good influence. So we figured why not celebrate and show appreciation for what they’ve done and bring these kids together as a team to help the cause of bringing awareness to teens that everyone doing drugs and alcohol are helping themselves or anyone else,” said 15-year-old Ben Wilson, who attributes much of his attitude to what he learned in Boy Scouts.

With the school year drew to a close, the Youth Leadership Team put on a celebration in recognition of those young members of our community who are choosing to live healthy, drug and alcohol free lifestyles May 21st at the Kenai Recreation Center. After dinner, the program portion of the event was kicked off with a DVD message from U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski. Senator Murkowski lauded the leadership and examples these youth were setting and challenged them to continue their movement that can have significant, positive impacts on the community. Following the video, the youth engaged in a variety of fun, get-acquainted and team building activities. “It’s much better to follow a leader than to follow a follower, because that is someone who is willing to step up and do the things that are needed and that’s a benchmark standard for those who come after me,” added Nathan Lervold.