Youth Voice: Calling My Peers- Let's Get Civically Engaged

This week, we're sharing the perspective of Tavian Southall, a youth participant in Mikva Challenge DC who has spent the summer interning at the DC Council. We thank Tavian and Mikva Challenge DC for their contribution to this blog!

I am a college student! I just graduated from high school, and now I am on my way to change the world. At the beginning of my senior year of high school, I told myself that I wanted to complete as many challenges in an efficient and timely manner. I wanted to be engaged in and out of school. I participated in my school’s Student Government Association as the 12th Grade Representative. I advocated to the Executive Director of the school to partner with an organization named Reach Inc. I was a tutor for Reach Inc. for two years as an underclassmen at my old high school, so as I came to my new school for eleventh (and twelfth) grade, I made sure Reach Inc. was a program that was coming with me. Consequently, when I began twelfth grade, Reach Inc. was at my new school! From there, I led the ninth and tenth graders in the program with tutoring second and third graders in reading and writing. I soon joined the State Board of Education’s Student Advisory Committee -- advocating and discussing issues we faced at our respective schools. I also continued to work with the SBOE Representatives to ensure that the upcoming committee members are more productive and action-based. And of course, I joined Mikva Challenge DC, an organization focused on youth civic engagement in a variety of ways. Now, I want to fuse youth engagement and education into one organization and call it my own.

In the District of Columbia, there are many opportunities for youth to become civically engaged in their communities. I participated in a few of them this past year, and would encourage all youth in DC to learn more about the opportunities available to them!

The organization that focuses on everthing I am passionate about is Mikva Challenge DC, a youth civic engagement organization that seeks to increase youth voice in local decision making processes.   I first participated in Mikva Challenge’s Project Soapbox activity – an activity where young people write and deliver a persuasive 2-3 minute speech on the biggest issue facing them and their community.  My topic was education reform, limiting the standardization of public education and increasing more innovative strategies and techniques. After presenting my speech in front of my entire class of twenty students twice, I grew more comfortable with public speaking. Also, listening to the other twenty speeches of students sharing their personal experiences and opinions made me more aware and empathetic to others thoughts and ideas. Later, I participated in a few after school club events Mikva Challenge offered. There, other high schools students and I worked on a civic action project, helped people register to vote, and watched and discussed the presidential debates. In the spring, I was able to attend Mikva Challenge’s Action Civics Fair, where over 65 students from different schools presented an issue they faced and a realistic solution they implemented or planned to implement. Each group’s issue was complex and took work to build a solution. Luckily, a few District Councilmembers and leaders from across the District attened the event and talked with students about their projects.   City leaders were able to see how productive youth are when they are civically engaged and collaborate with their peers.

At Reach Inc., I, along with other students at my school, tutored second and third graders in reading and writing. Reach Inc. takes high school students who may or may not need help academically and teaches them comprehensive reading and writing skills that they can then use to tutor younger students in reading and writing. During the summer program I worked with other high school students across DC to plan and present an online program for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and to create a proposal to provide funding for the organization SOME DC to a live audience. Also at Reach Inc., I also sit on the Rales Leadership Council that advocates, advises and plans policies and programs to benefit current students who participate in the organization. Overall, I believe I’ve helped over twenty second and third graders with reading and writing. And Reach Inc. has challenged me to be a leader and realize how important education is at an early age.

At the State Board of Education DC, a few students and I all from different schools, came together to discuss challenges and solutions for our schools. I focused on and wrote a proposal on youth civic engagement in the District.   As a member of the Student Advisory Council, I I provided input for various issues regarding graduation requirements, school safety, college readiness and civic engagement.

It is important for youth in the District to help better their communities in anyway they can. In order to be civically engaged, it starts right at home in your neighborhood. Participating in school programs and activities at organizations that help communities improve. I encourage youth to find opportunities to contribute to the betterment of society. 

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Tavian Southall is a recent graduate of Thurgood Marshall Academy and one of Mikva Challenge DC's student leaders. Last year, he delivered a powerful Project Soapbox speech on the need for engaing and relevant educational opportunities for young people. Following the citywide Project Soapbox competition, he accompanied Mikva DC's Executive Director to talk about the importance of youth voice and youth civic engagement on the Fox 5 local news. This summer, he was a Mikva DC Summer Fellow, interning at DC City Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie's office.