Youth Get Psyched About SIYC!!

About 40 youth learned skills to take back to their schools, clubs and churches to make their communities a better place at the Southern Indiana Youth Conference (SIYC). The first-time event was hosted by the Scott County Youth Grantmaking Council (YGC), a group of students who learn about philanthropy and leadership. Participants stayed overnight at Country Lake Christian Retreat, a beautiful 200-acre campus on a 16-acre lake in Underwood. The theme of the event was “FacetheWorld.”

“FacetheWorld reminds us that we have a world of opportunity before us, a world which should not be off-limits to us simply because of our age,” YGC President and SIYC Coordinator Evan Comer told participants. “The goal of SIYC is to get you and everyone else here SIYC’d up about giving back and helping others, so that you can start working now to make this world a better place.”

Participants were separated into smaller groups where they came up with a group name and held icebreaker activities. They attended sessions on media/public relations, public speaking, fundraising, technology, leadership, project proposals and personality exercises. Guest speakers included Crothersville Community Schools Assistant Principal/Athletic Director Drew Markel and WAVE-3 TV news anchor Dawne Gee.

The youth also enjoyed spending time in the outdoors playing sports and games, attending a dance and completing obstacles in a low-ropes course. Each participant was asked to bring a canned good to benefit the Scott County Clearinghouse, and 56 items were collected to help feed the hungry.

“I had a great time!” said participant Sidney McDonald, a student at Scottsburg Middle School. “It was an experience just to be there. Learning about fundraising and advertising will really be useful for me later on in life.”

“I could not be more proud of the accomplishments of these youth,” said Scott County Community Foundation Program Officer Jaime Toppe, who facilitates with YGC with Brandon Polley and Hank Jentzen. “The YGC members did a phenomenal job with carrying out their vision to make this conference a success. We have a talented and dedicated group of people, and this was a great opportunity for the youth to network and learn new ideas. Based upon the feedback from everyone, we hope this conference will continue to grow next year.”

The Scott County Youth Grantmaking Council would like to thank the following people and organizations for making this event possible. Sponsors of the event were Ace Carpet and Flooring, Amick Home Center, Baldwin Recycling Center, Centra Credit Union, Dunn Orthodontics, Genesis Plastics, Dale and Rosemarie Hobbs, Kiwanis Club of Scottsburg, Joseph L. Payne, P.C., Peacock Crop Insurance Agency, Scott County State Bank, Sunshine House Health Food Store, the Turner family, Jeremy and Jaime Toppe and anonymous sponsors.

Giveaways for participants were donated by the Indiana Army National Guard, Hanover College, Scott County 4-H Council and Indiana University Southeast. PepsiAmericas donated soda and water, and Brandon Polley with Polley Images offered his DJ services for the dance.

The YGC would like to give a special thank you to the adult volunteers/ chaperones, some of whom also provided snacks for the conference. They include Beth Turner, Charlotte Boswell, Andrea Soloe, Hank Jentzen and Shelby Boley.
The session speakers included Mandy Bruck, Kelly Jentzen, Cindy Kanning, Cindy Lohr, Brandon Polley, Marc Slaton, Kasey Tobias and Jeremy Toppe.

Pictures of the conference can be viewed on the Facebook group page, “Southern Indiana Youth Conference.”