As the school year moves past the first 4 weeks, Ogallala Commons has launched a series of 6 Youth Engagement Days. The first one took place on September 16th on the campus of West Texas A&M University in Canyon, TX. More than 75 students and 10 teachers attended from Canyon, Tulia, Dimmitt, Plainview, and Hart high schools, including small delegations from Tascosa, Palo Duro, and Caprock high schools in Amarillo and a couple of home school students. Some highlights of the event were presentations by a young entrepreneur panel, several rounds of “Speed Exploration” where students learned about enticing careers that are available in their region, visits with business owners around the Courthouse Square, and interacting with like-minded youth from various schools who share an interest in building entrepreneurial skills.
In October, OC and seven high school partners will conduct a Youth Engagement Day in Floydada, TX, for an anticipated group of 60-70 students, on Oct. 7th. Next, OC staffers Darryl Birkenfeld and Simone Elder will team up with Julie Worley from Rocky Ford, CO and Craig Schroeder from Lincoln, NE, to conduct Regional Workshops for youth engagement at Otero Jr. College (La Junta, CO) on Oct. 8th and at Lamar Community College (Lamar CO) onOct. 9th. The morning workshops will provide educational outreach to community leaders in southeast Colorado who are interested in OC’s newly launched youth engagement project.
Meanwhile, planning continues at a steady pace for OC Youth Engagement Day events in Clovis, NM (Nov. 4th), La Junta, CO (Nov. 17th), La Junta, CO (Nov. 18th), and Gonzales, TX (Nov. 23rd).
