One hundred and fifty middle and high school-aged students traveled from across the San Gabriel Valley on a crisp, cool Saturday morning to participate in the 15th Annual San Gabriel Valley Youth Summit, which is youth-planned and youth-led, hosted by Pacific Clinics’ Asian Pacific Family Center (APFC), with the support of Garvey School District and other community partners. The fun-filled day-long event was packed with live performances, including Rice Elementary School’s Folklorico Team and the Garvey Intermediate School Drumline, engaging and educational breakout sessions, arts and crafts for Mental Health Awareness and Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Months, and an informative, thought-provoking keynote speech delivered by a fifteen-year-old poet from the San Gabriel Valley. Her inspirational speech highlighted the importance of rejecting temporary highs and quick fixes. She concluded by reminding her peers they have a voice and the power to choose between saying no to substances and saying yes to a better life with endless possibilities.
Each year, the APFC team works with students and community partners to develop a theme that resonates with youth and serves as the day’s focal point. The youth chose to host the event on 4/20, as a counter ad to normalized youth cannabis culture. This year’s theme was S.O.D.A., an acronym for Staying Off Drugs Always. A local vendor, Hit + Run Crew was onsite to print S.O.D.A.-themed t-shirts with several designs by Pacific Clinics employees and participating youth to select as a keepsake from the event.
The day was divided into morning and afternoon activities, including archery and over 21 breakout sessions for students to choose from. These subject-matter expert-run sessions covered various topics, ranging from the challenges teens face with relationships and boundaries, vaping and cannabis, and bystander intervention training. In addition, there were youth-led workshops on robotics, social media, health equity, emotional well-being and stress, as well as Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) renewal space healing circles. Breakfast was served from McDonald’s, with lunch provided by The Habit Food Truck. The second half of the day was filled with resource booths, including End Overdose, who moderated social services panel discussion and provided Narcan and overdose prevention education to address the tragic impact of the opioid crisis.
“It’s been exciting to watch the event grow from 80 students to 150 students and counting,” said Program Director Stephanie Zapata. “I am proud of our dedicated prevention and clinical team and grateful to have the support that allows us to provide prevention education and programming to build stronger communities and brighter futures for our youth.”
The day culminated with great raffle prizes, including a family four-pack to Disneyland, won by a student planning to use the tickets to celebrate her upcoming birthday. The closing ceremony was filled with performances and an encouraging speech from Los Angeles / South Coast Regions Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations Laura Pancake. “The most fun part of my job is a day like today, when I get to come see all of you having fun and taking care of yourselves so that you can be exactly what you want to be,” said Laura.
