Youth Voices in Prevention: Arianna's Leadership Journey

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Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Safe Yakima Valley Prevention Connection Podcast. I'm Marisol Esparza, the Drug-Free Communities Coordinator for Safe Yakima Valley. And here is my colleague.

And I'm Derek Johnson, part of the team working alongside Mari to bring you insights and stories from our community's efforts to prevent substance misuse for youth in Yakima County.

Today, we're thrilled to have a very special guest with us, Arianna Rosales, who is not only a junior at Eisenhower High School, but also the president of the SPARK Club, a key part of the Drug and Alcohol Prevention Club. Arianna has been a fantastic advocate for youth involvement in prevention and has made significant strides in leading her peers in this important work. Arianna, would you like to share with us your journey from joining the Drug and Alcohol Prevention Club as a freshman to becoming its president?

Um, yeah, so this whole thing started out when I went to my freshman orientation and I saw a tabling for imagery and I was like kind of intrigued on what it was. And so I decided to go over and I was able to talk with Miss Z about it, who was the advisor at the time, and she just kind of explained it to me a bit. So I just started going to the meetings, and I honestly had a lot of fun because the people who were there were just really amazing people, honestly. And so my first year was honestly pretty fun. I got to do a lot of things, like go to different summits, which was cool. Then I hit my sophomore year, which unfortunately she was no longer able to be our advisor. And so we took on a different advisor, but during that time we didn't have as many resources as the first year. So we kind of hit a bumpy road. But then around, I want to say either March or April is when we got you, Maricela, as our advisor. So we started kicking things up again with tabling. We started having more meetings and now this year where we have even more people in our club and we've just been able to do a lot of cool tabling so that's kind of what it's been like for these past couple years here.

Yeah, it's been great to see the expansion of the students and the interest that they have in the club. So what were your initial expectations when you first joined the Drug and Alcohol Prevention Club and how have they changed over time?

I'm not gonna lie, I hadn't been a part of a Drug and Alcohol Prevention Club beforehand so I honestly didn't have any expectations when I first joined. But over time, I realized that this club was honestly really important. My expectation was just being able to just connect with people at my school and just give them the information that they would need.

And can you describe a specific moment or event that was pivotal in your decision to take on a leadership role within the club as president?

So a specific moment was mostly my sophomore year. That's when I was practically rushed in as president because I was the only one remaining from my freshman year. And so that's when I decided to take in some leadership because I didn't want the club to die out because I know that in our school that we need a drug and alcohol prevention club. And so that's when I decided to just take up the role as president and continue it.

Many students might feel hesitant to step up in leadership roles, especially if they're naturally more reserved. Can you talk about how you've managed to overcome this personally?

Well, it's taken these past three years to truly break out of my shell because the majority of my life, I've been incredibly shy to the point where even as a little kid, I couldn't even say hi to people without running away afterwards. So, like, my journey through just, like, kind of breaking out of that shell was Miss Z, my first year, because she noticed that I was incredibly shy. She didn't just let me stay in that position. She made me, like, speak out, like, speak up, and just, like, share my ideas a lot. She would also have me do different presentations, which were both summits that we went to, which like the Tri Cities one, then we went to one in Olympia. She had me actually present for both of those, which is what's really helped me gain my voice and like different things like how we do this year in tabling where I'm like practically forced to talk to people my age and just other people like that has really helped me to just like kind of step up and talk like a lot more.

So being part of the club it seems like has meant a lot for you in your own personal growth journey over the last few years.

Yeah definitely.

What has been the most challenging aspect of engaging your peers and how have you addressed that?

The most challenging is definitely talking to my peers because I unless I truly like know someone, it's very hard for me to start up a conversation with them. And so the way I've just addressed this is honestly knowing that this information is really helpful to all people, not just people in high school, but just everyone in general. And so knowing that information and how helpful it will be has helped me to just basically just go through it, just push through and just talk to them about it. And yeah.

And I know you mentioned, Ariana, that you had experience tabling, and also the additional leadership roles. So as a leader, what strategies have you found effective in increasing student engagement with the SPARK Club's activities?

Honestly, just making it fun, doing something that we know that youth will enjoy, like how at our tablings in the past couple months, had spin the wheel and how this next upcoming Monday/Tuesday we're possibly gonna have a queue so doing something that we know that youth really enjoy like little games especially having prizes like that's where we

Yeah, can you tell us a little more about the cube? For our audience who might not know.

It's a huge inflatable cube, which is when we just print out some different information. The first time we brought it out, I just printed out pictures of the brain with the different parts color-coded. And we would just ask students, how could alcohol and drugs affect this part of the brain? And what does it do? And how will those substances affect it? So it's just a huge inflatable cube. We just have them spin it on the ground and just answer the questions that we have for it. Yeah.

So it sounds like a great opportunity to increase both engagement and education for your peers.

Definitely. They love the cube and spin the wheel. Just anything with prizes is especially candy.

And it sounds like they really enjoy interactive activities.

Yeah, definitely.

From a youth's perspective, how might an adult community leader engage youth in prevention work?

A way that an adult community leader can engage with youth is just letting them know that their voice is heard. Like even though we're younger, we still want to know our voice is heard and that it's valued. So just letting the youth know that and that you truly care about their ideas and what their possible contribution would be by encouraging them to come and join. We talked about youth engagement, a little bit of the education with other youth as well.

So I know that you've had a part in drawing the club. What have been some of the strategies or approaches that have worked for you in encouraging other youth to get involved in the club with you?

So the tabling is definitely one way like we reach most of most of our people and so to encourage them to come to the club I just kind of say like how much fun it's like really been like the cool stuff that we get to do like the Tabling and how I got our meetings like yes, so like very informative and educational But we also like make sure we have a little fun and we're able to just really connect and kind of build like a relationship between everyone between everyone So definitely just letting them know that there's a community where they can come it's a safe space and just enjoy themselves

And diving into your personal insights, Ariana, so looking back on your experiences so far, what impact do you think your involvement in the club has had on your school and peers?

I've noticed that a lot more people have definitely had greater knowledge of the different effects of drugs and alcohol and just substances like that, through our table links, you can tell the students that probably did know a lot about it, and they just came to know some more, and then the other ones that probably had no knowledge about it, and then they came and were able to get educated about it.

Yeah, and I'm sure you also engage different friends to be involved in community events or outreach, if you want to talk a little bit more about that.

Well, one of the ways is when I was able to bring one of my close friends to our mini-mart environmental scan. I just told her about it, how we'd be able to go out to different mini-marts, look for like different signs of like things that could be concerning, especially if like the different things that were targeted towards youth. And so just bringing her along with it was one of the ways that I was able to like, kind of like get like more classmates to join in.

How do you think being involved in the club has shaped you personally and academically?

Personally it's given me a new perspective on the different ways that drugs and alcohol could affect a person into someone's life because I knew that it could be something that could really harm someone and just their life in general but really being in this club has really like shaped exactly how much like I can look at these different substances and and just also being in the club, personally, it's helped me to grow and just be, like I said earlier, previously, less in my shell. Now I'm able to just speak out in class more. I'm doing better in my presentations when I have to do presentations for different classes. Because of all this practice I've had, I'm not as nervous. So personally, I've just grown more. I'm able to speak out and just be better at that. And then academically, I am able to do my presentations of different things that are necessary for my classes, like at YV Tech. I do Teacher Academy, and we do a lot of presentations. And so this club has definitely helped me prepare for that, and I didn't even know it.

As a follow-up to that, how do you think the club has prepared you for your future career outside of high school?

So outside of high school, I want to become a teacher. And so this club has definitely helped me because now I'll be able to know if students deal with substance abuse or if their parents giving them the resources or being a helping hand or just lending an ear to them and really hearing them out or being able to help them overcome those addictions or anything like that. This club has really, truly helped me to know what to look for and just the different things that they could be dealing with and just have knowledge of how to be able to help them with that.

And how has your perspective on substance misuse prevention changed since joining the club your freshman year?

Kind of like how I said earlier, it just made me realize how much a person's life could be affected. And this club has made me realize how much youth can be affected and how much, unfortunately, that all these substances could be specifically targeted to youth. And so it's really opened my eyes to how much that we have to make sure that a youth is educated about these different substances. Because a lot of them could just see like, oh, my friends are doing it. This is cool. But they don't know how much harm, the underlying harm of using the substances can be.

Alright, so looking ahead, as you continue your journey in high school and beyond, what goals do you have for the Spark Club and what kind of legacy might you want to leave for it? I just want to see the Spark Club grow even more, like having more members and being able to reach out to my school more and branch out.

And also branch out to the community of Yakima, being able to just reach youth, not just in Ike, but in other places and even adults, letting them like get this information and be able to know these different things. And this type of legacy that I want to leave is honestly just a legacy of, I was able to help my school, not just it be my name, like, oh, like I was able to help the school. Just being able to leave something that will help many generations and many people walking through. It doesn't have to necessarily be my legacy, just the legacy of the club. Just being able to help people and just really free people from things like addictions and things like that.

And then what are some initiatives or projects you would like to see implemented in the Smart Club in the future?

In the future, I would like to be able to possibly have an assembly time where we can reach a lot more students than just at lunch. Because during lunch we understand kids need to eat. That's their time that they wouldn't hang out with their friends. They may not want to come and like learn about something else. So possibly having like an assembly or a time where we can reach even more students at once so that way they can get this really valuable information.

How would Yakima look if youth had more leadership opportunities in prevention work?

The rates of substance abuse in Yakima could probably greatly come down, because the more educated the youth are and the more that they see that this stuff can be truly harmful that it'll have a really great impact. And the more youth that we have in leadership for these different things, the greater impact it will be because it won't be just another adult telling them, you can't do this. They will see someone their own age and seeing that, hey, maybe they're right about this. Maybe like if they're doing it, maybe I shouldn't be doing this. And if they're not, then they have the information. They could see someone their age is not doing it and be able to have that youth and leadership be like an inspiring person to them to see that, hey, I don't have to give in to substance abuse. I don't have to give in to whatever may be cool right now. There was someone my age, there's probably multiple people my age who are not, and so that could also help them be able to say no to peer pressure. So more youth and leadership when it comes to this stuff can definitely help other youth to see. It can help them to see that they are able to say no to substances.

So from the research we can see that one of the reasons that students and youth use substances and alcohol is to deal with the stresses of life as they come. Obviously, it's not the most healthy and we would like to look at some alternatives. And so, looking at you as a leader in this area for youth, what are some of the healthy things that you do when life stresses come at you, alternatively to substance use?

So, instead of using substances, I'm going to be completely honest. When I am really stressed or I'm facing something that I feel I can't handle on my own, I turn to my faith. I believe in Jesus and so i just go into his word and see what he says like to go with those things like today i was reading and it was psalm 46:10 i believe where he tells us to be still and know that he is god and so my faith has definitely been a big helper whenever i have to deal with something that is incredibly stressful in my life. Also listening to music, just music i love like something that picks me up and helps me to realize that yes what I'm in right now is difficult but it's temporary I'm not going to be here forever I'll eventually rise up above this so yeah definitely my faith in music.

Great. And do you have any other recommendations, maybe something that you don't necessarily do, but you know would be a healthy alternative for your peers as well?

Oh yeah, definitely like exercise or talking with like a trusted adult, possibly also therapy. I know when I was going through a really stressful time in my life, I was able to also go to therapy. So yeah, therapy, exercise, possibly going into hobbies that you know you really enjoy, or even just finding a show that you really enjoy that can help you decompress and just escape from reality a little bit.

So Ariana, what advice would you give to other students who might be interested in joining the SPARK Club but aren't sure about stepping into a leadership role or have any other questions?

So my advice I would say it's very plain but honestly just go for it. Take that leap of faith. You don't know what's on the other side of you just taking that step like I was incredibly nervous, I didn't really know what I was doing and now I am able to be president and that's because instead of shrinking back when things didn't make much sense, I was able to take that step and its definitely paid off so id definitely say yes its nerve racking and intimidating, but just go for it, it could be something incredibly fun and worth while.

Thank you Arianna for joining us, and continue doing the great work you are at the IKE Prevention Club.

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