Youth Commission

Agenda Village of Arlington Heights Youth Commission Arlington Heights Memorial Library Room I - 500 N. Dunton Ave AH 60004 September 21, 2023 6:00 PM I. CALL TO ORDER II. ROLL CALL III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. August 17, 2023 Minutes IV. REPORTS A. Commission Reports a. Library b. Park District c. Police Department d. Schools e. Commissioners at Large V. OLD BUSINESS A. Teen Health Programming B. Snow Shoveling Program C. Dodgeball Tournament VI. NEW BUSINESS VII. OTHER BUSINESS VIII.PUBLIC COMMENT IX. ADJOURNMENT Persons with disabilities requiring auxiliary aids or services, such as an American Sign Language interpreter or written materials in accessible formats, should contact Erin Mercado, at 33 S. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights, Illinois 60005, emercado@vah.com or (847)368-5793.  Youth Commission 9/21/2023 Item: Minutes Department: HHS ATTACHMENTS: Description Type Minutes Minutes  Minutes Village of Arlington Heights Youth Commission Arlington Heights Memorial Library 500 N. Dunton Ave 2nd Floor, Room I August 17, 2023 6:00 PM I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Son called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. All stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. The Commission welcomed new members Ava McQuade and Christopher Hong and all introduced themselves. II. ROLL CALL Present Also Present Alice Son, Chair Kimberly Witt Jennifer Borrell Christopher Hong Absent Ava McQuade Mr. James McCalister, Commission Liaison Nathan Georg Matt Healy Chyrel Moore Taryn Gombar Owen Smith Dr. Afroz Hafeez John Peterson Gabe Cherwin Lucy Jochaniewicz III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Minutes from July 27, 2023. A motion was made by Commissioner Peterson to approve the minutes of the July 27, 2023 meeting, seconded by Commissioner Georg and approved by unanimous consent. 1 IV. REPORTS A. Commission Reports 1. Library Chair Son reported that the Teen Film Fest is tomorrow at 7 – 9 pm. It is an annual event where teens submit films, they are judged and winners receive cash prizes. There is an after party from 9 – 10 pm. She said that summer reading is over and they are now focusing on the school year. They work with all of the schools and do visits once a month. Chair Son said that they are having a College Knowledge event on September 19th to discuss the application process. 2. Park District No Report. 3. Police Department No Report 4. Schools Commissioner Moore said that school is back in session. District 54 will be back on Monday, District 214 started yesterday, and District 25 started today. 5. Commissioners at Large Commissioner Peterson said that they are getting back into the habit of school, waking up earlier, and there are senior events going on, i.e., senior sunrise where you go somewhere to watch the sunrise. Commissioner McQuade said that freshman year is starting out good. She noticed that a lot of kids are not taking the bus home which means more kids are in activities after school. She believes that the tennis team had their first game or scrimmage against Buffalo Grove and Rolling Meadows today. Commissioner Hong said that school is going well. Buffalo Grove High School has been consistently introducing the Fine Arts program. He said sports are starting back up and he’s on the soccer team. Next Monday they have their first game against Glenbrook North. Commissioner Borrell said her son is in 4th grade and back in school today. She is excited to attend the Teen Film Fest. Commissioner Georg said he attended the Rolling Meadows senior sunrise at 5:30 am. He said that the kids had breakfast together. He said that Rolling Meadows is feeling unique challenges. They have a new Principal and a new Dean. The have updated district wide policies on phone usage and attendance. There are mandatory phone caddies in every class room and there is a change in the absence policy to encourage attendance. If you are more than 9 minutes late, you are marked absent. Also, for the first and last block you’re confined to the class room with no bathroom or water breaks. 2  Commissioner Smith also said there are new rules in place and that if you’re late, the school will take away your parking pass. Commissioner Moore responded that cell phone usage is an addiction in the classroom, and when teacher asks the kids to put it away, the kids keep it out. V. OLD BUSINESS A. Snow Shoveling Program & Lawn Mowing Program Chair Son explained the snow shoveling and lawn mowing program to the new commissioners. She said that there is always a huge list of seniors that want the services and a short list of teens that are available. She wants to focus on promotion of the service so that teens will sign up for it. There was discussion between the Commissioners that good places to promote the service is at service clubs, also posting in hallways, social media, career centers and the job board. She mentioned that the perk of this program is that the age is 14+, and they can set their own rate. There was discussion if kids could get service hours instead of getting paid. There was also discussion of updating the flyer but it was decided to keep the flyer as is. Chair son would like to distribute the flyers before Thanksgiving break. She asked the Commissioners to do research on how to disseminate it at schools. She said that the Lawn Mowing Program is over and it will be discussed at a future date. B. Teen Health Programming Chair Son said that teen health programming came up a few times because it was prompted by the Board of Health asking if there was anything that the Youth Commission could collaborate with them on. She asked what health issues do teens need to know about that they feel are important? She said the items discussed in the past were vaping, physical health and they ultimately landed on mental health. Chair Son mentioned that they may try and host a library resource hour to allow teens to know there are resources for them. She said mental health is a tricky topic. It sounds like students don’t know they have resources at school and that the schools have a social worker on site. Chair Son talked to Nicole Espinoza this week. Ms. Espinoza is the Village’s social worker, and Ms. Espinoza confirmed that mental health is tricky and complicated. There were questions if the parents need to be involved because most conversations are confidential but at certain point, family members will need to be involved depending on the situation. Commissioner Moore said to concentrate on health and fitness, because the military has to turn away many young individuals because they are not physically fit. She said we have the largest amount of unhealthy young individuals because they are sitting and playing games instead of being physically active. She said there are more kids that are diabetic than before. It was mentioned that 70% of young Americans are ineligible to join the military. There was discussion to promote mental health awareness by combining it with a health and fitness fair. Chair Son said a fair is a nice idea but will teens attend. The question was asked if they should stick with mental health or pivot to physical health. Commissioner Smith commented to hear what Ms. Espinoza says at the next meeting and then decide. 3  C. Commission-Hosted Recreational Event Chair Son asked the Commission if they would like to continue with hosting a dodge ball tournament or any type of commission hosted event that is fun. After much discussion, the Commission decided that they want to continue with a dodge ball tournament. The tournament would take place on October 16th from noon - 2pm. The date and location will need to be confirmed with Commissioner Healy. The backup date is February 16th from 4 – 6 pm. The co-ed teams would consist of 6 players and the winners will receive a gift card from an Arlington Heights business for a prize. The Commission will work on a flyer and once the date is confirmed, a date will be entered on the flyer for distribution. VI. NEW BUSINESS VII. OTHER BUSINESS VIII. PUBLIC COMMENT IX. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Smith, seconded by Commissioner Borrell, moved to adjourn at 7:06 p.m. all concurred and the motion carried unanimously. 4