A City Fit for Kids, part three:
Faces in the Crowd
Matt Oppenheimer, a facilitator at one of the tables, is also president of the 25-member Youth Action Council, a leadership project of Community Youth Connection. A 17-year-old junior from Boise High School, Oppenheimer wears his curly brown hair parted down the middle. He talks fast and with infectious energy, pausing often to ask, “Does that make sense?” When he’s amused, the corners of his mouth turn up and his eyebrows arch like parentheses tipped sideways. He’s a big believer in the power of amusement.
“For me, community service is fun. That’s why I do it,” he says, explaining in a nutshell why he devotes time to two governor’s councils, a national campaign to prevent teen pregnancy, a police strategy board, and a variety of other service projects. He suspects more of his peers would become involved in the community, too, if they knew they’d have a good time. “They’re not going to want to do things,” he says, “if it means sitting in a meeting for eight hours. Teens want to see results.” The right spin helps, too, he admits. “I’m sorry if this sounds blunt, but you won’t get many kids involved in something that has dork written all over it.”
Oppenheimer is savvy enough to know that his own childhood has been close to idyllic. He’s lived his entire life, with both parents and an older brother, in the same house on Warm Springs Avenue, one of Boise’s nicest and most historic streets. His father is president and CEO of a food processing company; his mother is a counselor in private practice. He loves attending Boise High, housed on the edge of downtown in an imposing building, complete with classical Greek columns. Recently, he was selected as one of 35 youth correspondents to Teen People magazine. Although he has been nurtured by love and support at home and enjoys success at school, Oppenheimer has watched many friends grow up under starkly different circumstances. At times, his own good fortune can feel almost embarrassing. But what drives his activism are the friends he cares about. “It’s all built around relationships,” he says.
One buddy, for instance, gets into trouble so often that Oppenheimer has offered him $50 if he ever stays out of juvenile detention for six months. He knows a classmate whose parents do drugs at home, right in front of their son. At school, he hears a double standard applied to boys and girls who choose to be sexually active: “Girls get called sluts. Guys brag about it.” He’s become a peer counselor for Planned Parenthood because he thinks “guys need to be more involved in pregnancy prevention.” On weekends, he sees kids chugging beer at parties or cruising a popular loop downtown “because they say there’s nothing to do. They don’t realize there are other ways to have fun.” Although he doesn’t use drugs or alcohol himself, Oppenheimer still enjoys parties. “I can be there, having fun, not doing it [drugs and alcohol]. My friends know what I stand for.” Although he can seem wise beyond his years, Oppenheimer doesn’t claim to know all the answers. “Issues need to be approached in multiple ways,” he believes. “There are no simple solutions.”
Kristin James, a senior at Timber line High, knows firsthand about the challenges that life can throw in the way of a young person. At 17, she’s exactly the age her mother was when she was born. When she was two, an abusive former stepfather broke her arm and leg. She didn’t meet her own father until she was seven. When her family moved from Utah to Boise two years ago, she found herself doing some major soul searching. “I went through a big transition, wondering who I want to be,” she says. One thing she became clear about: “Statistics are high that the child of a teen mom will be a teen parent herself. But I’m not a statistic.”
James drew on her own family story to write a powerful speech about teen pregnancy. She won a state competition and went on to compete at the nationals in Boston. That led to her involvement in other youth projects, such as the Idaho Youth Action Council and Community Youth Connection. To build her leadership skills, she attended a summer youth retreat organized by Amy Denton, the YES ambassador. And as she has gotten more involved in service learning, James has seen her own confidence take off. Her story brings to life what research shows: that service learning can be a springboard for skill building during adolescence.
“I never used to see myself as a leader,” says the soft-spoken James. “But now, even in class, I’m raising my hand, identifying myself as someone who can lead. I’m more confident, not as shy to open up to people.” She realizes that she’s motivated by “positive energy.” Today, positive energy is what has brought her to the youth summit. After she graduates next spring, she hopes to devote more energy to a yearlong service project before she heads to college. “I want to know that I’m making a difference.”
