Growing young leaders and trees

It has been an amazing summer! Our 2014/2015 president Samantha Cano has left Tree Musketeers in the very capable hands of our new president Talia Gerard.

You may be familiar with the last name as her brother Adam Gerard was president during 2013/2014 and went to South Korea to speak at a youth empowerment conference in 2012. Talia has been on the YMT for eight years, has given spoken and given presentations at many events hosted by Tree Musketeers and other groups and currently has a medical internship at the University of Southern California.

As for the our incoming youth leaders, we had a huge class for our LEAD courses in July & August! In LEAD students learn personal, people & management skills that help prepare them for the real world. Students mostly enjoyed the eating for success course, learning all about proper table ettiquette while still have a tasty meal. They also learned about budgeting, how to behave while meeting new people and tips & tricks for business interviews and speaking engagements! We can't wait for them to go out into the real world and have successes with all they learned.

During our speech contest, LEAD's culminating event, we had some outstanding orators. Komal Joshi won first place and Youth Manager Fernando Aguilar recieved second place. From that course we recieved three new recruits, Lucas Glastetter and Ashley & David Lawson, for the Youth Management Team and have spent the last month getting to know them. We feel they hold great promise for all the work they will accomplish in the years to come.

What are our YMT up to next? We are gearing up for our 3rd Annual Make a Difference Day Celebration. We will be performing litter and invasive species removal at our Trees to the Sea. Over a hundred volunteers are expected including teams from Chevron, Rotary, Key Club and Xceed Financial Credit Union.

The entire community is invited to come out and take part on our teams, lead by our Youth Leaders and Adult Partners, on Saturday, Octobrer 24th.

Links:

• Youth LEADership Courses
• Adam Gerard Goes to South Korea (previous article)

Summer is always an exciting time for us here at Tree Musketeers. We are busy gearing up for our LEAD Courses starting in early July. We are also making plans for future Youth Planting Supervisor training and events for the upcoming planting season.

In our long history of over 28 years we have always upheld the belief that anyone, no matter how small, can change the world. That means digging in, taking action and getting our hands dirty!

So what have our young leaders been up to?

Our youth leaders facilitated tree planting during the VOICE Earth Day Celebration in April, hosted a Big Sunday event and educated local residents on household water conservation at the South Bay Water Wise Garden Tour in May, and helped clear the beach during the Beauty and the Beach Cleanup in early June. There is no question that our youth are making a tremendous impact in our community!

Samantha Cano, Tree Musketeers Youth Director and President, is one very active youth leader that will be moving on to make an even bigger impact in the years to come. Upon graduating from high school this week she received several scholarships, including one from Tree Musketeers, and attributes some of her success to our LEAD courses and ongoing programs.

Through LEAD (Leadership, Education and Action Development) we teach Personal Skills, People Skills and Management Skills, all of which help students excel in social and academic environments, and prepare for college, the job market and impactful roles in the community.

Our LEAD Course topics include how to introduce one’s self with confidence, interact with others conversationally, behave properly at the dinner table, dress for success, and we even have an entire Toastmaster’s course on public speaking!

But learning isn’t all our students do. There is a fun and social aspect to the classes as well. Many of our students walk away having begun life-long friendships with other course participants. We are excited to welcome our newly enrolled youth into the Tree Musketeers family!

Want to see what else our young leaders are up to these days? Check out our new series, The Endangered where our Youth Managers highlight one endangered species each month. And don't forget to check out our upcoming volunteer events!

Thank you for your continued support, growing young leaders and trees. See you next time!

Links:

• Youth Leadership
• New Series - The Endangered