Last month the Chief Umtuch DREAM Team, the youth members of Prevent Together: Battle Ground Prevention Alliance, attended the 2023 Washington State Spring Youth Forum. They were one of forty teams who were awarded scholarships to attend and present at the conference, which took place May 9 -10 at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, Washington.

The goal of the Spring Youth Forum is to recognize and reward youth prevention teams that have implemented a successful prevention project within their communities. The Forum is funded by the Washington State Health Care Authority and serves as the follow-up conference to the Washington State Prevention Summit, which takes place each fall. The Spring Youth Forum provides youth prevention teams the opportunity to learn from others while showcasing their own education and planning skills. Youth teams share successes and lessons learned from projects which are based on education received at the Prevention Summit or other prevention-related trainings. The Prevention Summit and Spring Youth Forum work in tandem to create momentum and encourage, reward, and support youth-led prevention work in communities throughout Washington.

The Chief Umtuch Dream Team presented “Igniting Student Sparks”, a project about creating connections for young people through “sparks,” the things students are passionate about.

“After the pandemic, we were feeling really disconnected,” shared one of the team’s members, a seventh grader at Chief Umtuch. “The DREAM Team wanted to do something that would help us, and our peers, feel less alone and basically just improve mental health overall.”

The idea for using “sparks” to help connect students came from research done by the Search Institute which shows that when young people are active in their sparks and have caring adults in their lives, they are less likely to get involved in risky behaviors such as using substances.

As part of their project, the DREAM Team surveyed students in their school to learn about their interests, or sparks, and then set out to connect related opportunities for engagement in their school. For example, the survey revealed that animals were one spark shared by many, so the DREAM Team partnered with 4-H to host a 3-part Animal Science Club after school. The goal was to introduce students to 4-H and provide information on ways to get involved with the organization.

“The DREAM Team was one of only three middle school teams who were at Forum to present their projects,” said Jennifer Kirby, one of the team’s adult advisors. “The remaining thirty-seven teams were all high school students which made their win even more remarkable.”

The project presentations are evaluated by the other youth in attendance and scored on their innovation, impact, collaboration, sustainability, and professionalism. Teams with the highest score in each of these categories receive an award and the team with the highest overall score is awarded the grand prize.

As the grand prize winner, the Dream Team received $5,000 to help pay for a trip to Washington, D.C. this winter to participate in the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) National Leadership Forum. CADCA’s National Youth Leadership Initiative is part of this four-day conference and helps equip youth with the tools necessary to help coalitions achieve community-level change. While there, the students will have an opportunity to participate in Capitol Hill Day to meet with Congressional leaders.

The DREAM Team will be recognized for their achievements by Battle Ground City Council at the June 15 council meeting.