City's youth council members have high hopes

The Barstow City Council members and myself are looking forward to the ideas and suggestions from our youth.

May 7, 2009 - 4:06 PM By ABBY SEWELL, staff writer BARSTOW • The newest and youngest members of Barstow’s government already have plans for the future. The Barstow City Council appointed the first eight members of its newly formed Youth Advisory Council Monday. The youth council was formed by a City Council resolution in March to give the Council greater insight into the needs of Barstow’s youth. Sixteen-year-old Barstow High School junior Amanda Sabblut said she first heard of the youth council while watching a City Council meeting on television with her father, local radio personality Cory Baker. She had never done anything like it before, but Sabblut said she wanted to get involved in hopes of bringing more activities geared towards teenagers in Barstow. “There’s some things that happen in the community for the teens and the youth, but if you think about it, there’s really not that much oriented towards them, towards us,” she said. As well as more recreation for the youth, Sabblut suggested the city could put on events like resume-writing workshops geared towards teens. Keisha Crawford, a 14-year-old home-schooler who is also part of the new youth council, agreed that the city should put on more events for teens, from carnivals to concerts in the public parks. “I think we need more activities for the youth to keep them off the street,” she said. “There’s so many kids that are in gangs, and some of them are my friends, and I don’t want to see them on that path.” Being in a leadership position is nothing new to Crawford. She is home schooled this year, but last year she was student body vice president at Barstow Junior High School. Crawford said her mother, who knew that Crawford missed being a part of the student government, read in the newspaper that the City Council was looking for youth council applicants and suggested that she apply. “I wanted to join because my mom has always told me to make things better you have to be able to speak it,” she said. Jiazi “Kitty” Guo, an 18-year-old Barstow High School junior originally from China moved to Barstow two years ago when her mother got a job in the area. Guo, who serves as student body vice president at the high school and president of the art club, also spends much of her time volunteering and working with various clubs and organizations. Guo said she started volunteering in hopes of getting into a good college, but she also enjoys community service. Like Sabblut, she sometimes watches the Barstow City Council meetings at home with her family. “If I have time, like no homework, I always watch to see what’s going on in the city,” she said. Guo said she would suggest to the city that they create more public parks and implement safety measures like more lights at the existing parks. She also suggested having days when the community would plant trees and flowers to beautify Barstow. The eight youth council members will go through an orientation session next week and then will attend the Barstow Parks, Recreation and Cultural Commission meeting scheduled for May 13 to see how a citizen commission works. The youth council will hold its own meetings and make quarterly reports to the City Council.Contact the writer:(760) 256-4123 or asewell@desertdispatch.com