#yli2022

By Paige Finney, YLI Class of 2022 graduate

At our graduation for the class of 2022, we got to rejoice as a group one last time. After a year of retreats, experience days, and reflection sessions, our group grew in leadership, relationships, mentorships, and people. As I looked around at the peers, mentors, adults, and facilitators surrounding me the memories and lessons rushed in. I looked at Lexi, sitting next to me, and the amount of growth she endured in the program and the relationship we had gained. I watched Sebastian give his speech and reflect on both the ending and the beginning of the leadership journey that YLI provided him. I looked at the peer mentors in the back, and all of the knowledge they got from YLI and shared with me. And I looked at Kelly, who led us through all of those different experiences and planned the wonderful experience we had the opportunity of sharing. 

By Maya McDaniels, senior at Bondurant Farrar High School and new YLI alumnus

(Maya, with her peers from left to right, Felix Gbagbo, Leah Olinger, Maya, Isabel Naderman, Payton Strobel, Lexi Davis and left-front, peer mentor Sebastian Martinez)

I never expected our YLI journey to fly by like it did. But next thing I knew, here we were- at our last experience day. This day was focused on exploring nature, but for most of us it meant a lot more than that. It was exploring our own leadership, relationships, and putting a capstone on everything we have learned.

Although it was a torrential downpour outside, inside of Jester Park’s Outdoor Recreation & Wellness Center, there could not have been more warmth. As we all stepped outside of our comfort zone in activities like archery and bouldering, we laughed, shouted words of encouragement, and made memories together.  Doing things outside of your comfort zone or things you’ve never tried before is scary at first, but it makes you learn more about yourself. Having supportive peers surrounding you while doing it? Well, that made it all the better.

For me, this was about jumping into things headfirst, even if I wasn’t sure about it. Once the rain lightened up, we were outside for a walk where I found myself running and skipping down the road and rushing through puddles with people I would never have found if it wasn’t for YLI. Again, my feet were soaked and cold but I felt the warmth of the relationships built.

By Eve Mittra, sophomore at Lincoln High School & current YLI student

Earlier this month our entire YLI group presented our speeches, which all discussed different topics regarding to our own individual leadership journeys. This day had been long awaited as a group, and we were excited to share our ideas with everyone! When I arrived, the nerves were definitely there. I was terrified, but extremely excited at the same time. My speech was about how to own the spotlight, and how YLI helped me gain the confidence to get on a stage and share my ideas. Although it was scary, I am very grateful that Kelly Royal set this all up and allowed for everyone to step out or into our comfort zones and share with everyone our lessons from YLI.

The preparation for our speeches started way back in November when Erik Dominguez first came in and talked to us about public speaking and the logistics of speaking to a crowd. He then shocked us with the idea that we would be writing up a 3–5-minute speech. I don’t know about anyone else, but I was extremely nervous to have to do this. I have never been one to voluntarily do public speaking since I never had the confidence. While thinking about this, I realized that this program has helped me gain confidence and I ended up writing my speech on this. I grew because of this program, because of Kelly, because of all my peers and friends, and because of the mentors.

By Neah McGovern (YLI ‘21), Peer Mentor and senior at Bondurant Farrar High School

I remember the Arts and Culture session being one of my favorite experience days as a student. I loved learning about all of the different types of art that could be found in Downtown Des Moines and couldn’t believe that I had never known that there was so much to explore so close to my home. It was a truly eye-opening experience and I felt so excited knowing that there were so many different opportunities to experience art and culture in Des Moines.

However, this year’s class of students opened my eyes in a different way and gave me the opportunity to view art and culture in our community in a new light. Instead of focusing mainly on the arts aspect of our day, they embraced the idea of cultural diversity in our community and engaged in thought-provoking discussions about the impact of art in our daily lives. They also asked so many questions about the different cultures in the Greater Des Moines Area and gave me the opportunity to learn so much about just how much diversity there is in a city that I thought I was very familiar with.

The students also branched out and explored ways to make art more accessible and inclusive to the communities that they were a part of. A few students pointed out that much of the art was limited to the downtown metro area and noted that this felt like an exclusion of the neighborhoods farther out that couldn’t necessarily afford to create their own art installations. This was something that had never even crossed my mind and it got me thinking about what it means to be both a diverse and inclusive community.

However, the students didn’t stop at identifying the problem. They took it a step further and began to discuss potential ways for them to actively contribute to their communities in a creative and inclusive way. Each student at the table contributed ideas and shared their own thoughts on the steps they could take and it was incredible to watch as these students validated each other’s ideas and offered positive feedback, creating this really special connection between students.

By Brooke Seeliger, sophomore at Southeast Polk and current YLI student

(Brooke, with speaker Matt Schneiderman, Pathway Navigator at DMACC)

Our March experience day was all about exploring business and STEM! This idea of business or careers is always on the minds of high schoolers like myself. Being able to have our experience day at DMACC opened my eyes to what possibilities there are in college, especially here in Iowa. All of those possibilities include leadership, and it can come in all different forms. I don’t know exactly what I will do for my future career, which is okay! A big takeaway from our morning session is that it’s okay not to have my future planned out! My decision can change a million times. When I figure out a path, I need to get the right education. Normally going to college gets you higher paying jobs but as we learned on this experience day, you don’t have to have that higher education to have a meaningful career.

In the afternoon of this experience day, after having a delicious lunch at the DMACC Bistro, we met with several different tech companies in Iowa. This included Businessolver, Workiva, Corteva, and Vizypay. They each showed us how they use technology in their business including payments, insurance, security, agribusiness, and much more! The message from this part of the day is that technology is a big thing in business and is used very regularly. I’m very thankful to have received that insight from those businesses and the reminder to keep Iowa businesses in mind for my future job.

By Avery Eichmeier (YLI ‘21), Peer Mentor

Our March experience day was focused on exploring business and STEM! We had the opportunity to have our experience day on DMACC’s beautiful Ankeny campus, and even got to personally explore all this campus has to offer! I remember the business and STEM day being incredibly impactful for my last year, and this year’s experience was no different. 

Jill Hoeck, Susan McCoy, Matt Schneiderman, and Sara Clayton immersed us in all things DMACC and opened my eyes to all of the different opportunities out there. Like almost all of my fellow high school seniors, my future has been one of my biggest stressors this past year. College is often the first choice for most high school graduates, but for in-demand careers, it sometimes makes more sense to attend a community college like DMACC. There are so many different scholarship and apprenticeship opportunities out there, and it is important to be aware of them! One of the big things I took away from the morning session was that it is okay to not have your entire future planned out, but learning about the opportunities and options you have is super important. I encourage everyone to take advantage of the opportunities you’re presented with because you never know how much it can benefit you!

After a delicious meal prepared by the culinary students at DMACC, we talked with different representatives from different tech companies right here in central Iowa! In both big and small organizations, in every industry from agriculture to payment processing, technology is involved in every aspect of professional life. We heard from Corteva, Businessolver, Workiva, and VizyPay about how they use technology to be successful. My biggest takeaway from this part of the day was that any career path you choose ends up using technology in one way or another! We are incredibly lucky to have spoken to these businesses, learned about what they do, why they do it, and to have gotten to know real professionals in the tech industry! 

By Sierra Pilate (YLI ‘20) and Current Peer Mentor

Our February experience day is close to my heart because I always learn something new about self-growth and self-care. My personal health as always been up and down. I am learning that being around people is my so called “self-care”. I loved being able to go to Businesssolver and do yoga and have giggles with my fellow peer mentors and students. I saw how being around my YLI family, my actual family, and my friend family, makes me feel included and allows me to be myself. I continue to see that my hygiene self-care is getting better. I work towards doing face masks and taking time to listen to music and read books. I also realize that I do not need anyone’s approval when choosing these things, just that it makes me happy.

By Isabel Naderman, junior at Lincoln High School and current YLI student

Isabel (right) with classmate, Payton Strobel at Businessolver for the Wellness class experience day

I was quite exited for this experience day as I am always looking for ways to improve my mind and body. Going into this day I didn’t know what to expect. When thinking of leadership, I normally think of being selfless and not taking into account my own thoughts or feelings. This experience day taught me that I was completely wrong in viewing leadership in that way.

As leaders you need to be selfless, but not to the point where you can’t lead. Self-love is self-care in action. If you are not being healthy to your mind and body then you can’t lead well.

We learned about mental health from Gabby and an amazing non-profit Please Pass The Love. Gabby told us that it is important to take time for yourself to just be. I think that leaders are always searching for what is next, who else can they help, what more can they do. It was comforting to hear that it is okay to just be.

We then learned a way to just be. Ben Spellman, founder of Good Vibes Movement, taught us some yoga. And while the yoga may have not been for everyone, everyone did agree that it was very peaceful and calming.