Kids today are doing great things

  • Thursday, October 2, 2014 7:45pm
  • Opinion

“Kids today” — it’s a sentiment we hear from time to time, usually preceded or followed by a list of everything wrong with the younger generation.

Depending on your perspective, that can be a long list. But we’d like to offer a different list, one just as long — if not longer — of some of the great things that kids today are up to.

We’ll start with a recent Eagle Scout project to construct a firewood shed at the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank, spearheaded by Sage Hill, a Boy Scout from Soldotna. Hill marshalled volunteers for the project and has a plan in place to keep the wood shed stocked, something that will no doubt make a huge difference for a person or family in need during the next cold snap.

We’ve also heard about Jenna Hansen of Nikiski, who uses her reindeer, Scene of the Crash and Comet, to raise funds to benefit homeless youth. And Jessica Roper, a Kenai Central High School graduate and now a paramedic student at Kenai Peninsula College who has raised funds to help provide water rescue training for area first responders. Then there’s the student representatives who have recently joined local city councils — Allie Ostrander in Kenai, and Jackson Blackwell in Soldotna. And the Cook Inlet Academy students who recently spent time helping out in the community.

The list can go on and on. You don’t need to look too far to find area youth volunteering, fundraising, organizing and generally helping make their community a better place.

Sure, they spend too much time attached to their cell phones, their taste in clothes is a little odd and the noise they call music is hard to bear.

But by and large, today’s youth are aware of the world around them and engaged in their community. In fact, we’re excited to see what kids today will be able to accomplish tomorrow.

More in Opinion

Kenai Peninsula Education Association President Nathan Erfurth works in his office on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Voices of the Peninsula: Now is the time to invest in Kenai Peninsula students

Parents, educators and community members addressed the potential budget cuts with a clear message.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy holds a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. (Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: An accurate portrayal of parental rights isn’t controversial

Affirming and defining parental rights is a matter of respect for the relationship between parent and child

t
Opinion: When the state values bigotry over the lives of queer kids

It has been a long, difficult week for queer and trans Alaskans like me.

Dr. Sarah Spencer. (Photo by Maureen Todd and courtesy of Dr. Sarah Spencer)
Voices of the Peninsula: Let’s bring opioid addiction treatment to the Alaskans who need it most

This incredibly effective and safe medication has the potential to dramatically increase access to treatment

Unsplash / Louis Velazquez
Opinion: Fish, family and freedom… from Big Oil

“Ultimate investment in the status quo” is not what I voted for.

An orphaned moose calf reared by the author is seen in 1970. (Stephen F. Stringham/courtesy photo)
Voices of the Peninsula: Maximizing moose productivity on the Kenai Peninsula

Maximum isn’t necessarily optimum, as cattle ranchers learned long ago.

(Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)
Opinion: The time has come to stop Eastman’s willful and wanton damage

God in the Bible makes it clear that we are to care for the vulnerable among us.

Caribou graze on the greening tundra of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska in June, 2001. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Opinion: AIDEA’s $20 million-and-growing investment looks like a bad bet

Not producing in ANWR could probably generate a lot of money for Alaska.

A fisher holds a reel on the Kenai River near Soldotna on June 30, 2021. (Photo by Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Voices of the Peninsula: King salmon closures long overdue

Returns have progressively gone downhill since the early run was closed in June 2012

Most Read