Alaska nonprofit organization Spirit of Youth invites Alaskans to celebrate Alaska Day, Oct. 18, by celebrating Alaska’s future – its youth. Spirit of Youth recognizes outstanding Alaskan youth in 11 categories each year. Anyone can nominate a youth for these awards.
The 11 recognition categories include overcoming challenges, cultural activities, the arts, media and technology, business, the environment, service to children and more. Every nominee is presented with a certificate of recognition and Spirit of Youth keepsakes. All Alaskan youth ages 12-19 are eligible.
Spirit of Youth is dedicated to creating, promoting and recognizing youth involvement in communities across Alaska. The program began in 1997 as a media-based project that aimed to address the growing negative image of teenagers. Since then, hundreds of positive stories about Alaskan youth have spread through television, radio and local newspapers.
Spirit of Youth tries to frequently recognize youth achievements and good deeds, help youth to advance their aspirations and hinder negative behavior. The organization believes settings that allow for adolescents to be recognized and valued decrease the likelihood that they will become involved in high-risk behaviors and improve their self-competence, school attitude and performance.
The nomination form for recognizing a youth are online at www.spiritofyouth.org. Another way to show support is to share the Spirit of Youth audio or video public service announcement through stations or websites. The announcements are available online at kasenna.uaa.alaska.edu/~atmi/SpiritofYouth/alaskaday.html. Youth nominations can also be promoted on Spirit of Youth’s Facebook page or other pages.
Spirit of Youth will have a booth at the Elders and Youth Conference in Fairbanks on Oct. 18- 19. The organization also invites people to attend its open house at Terra Bella Coffee Shop in Anchorage on Oct. 15 from 5-8 p.m.
