On June 19-21, I had the privilege of joining NCSD colleagues at the School-Based Health Care Convention in Long Beach, CA. Being in a space surrounded by men and women who are passionate about the health of the underserved youth has been an incredible experience. Attending the National School-Based Health Care Convention allowed me to witness educated and smart individuals who actively pay attention to the experiences of those who are often ignored, something that I didn’t know existed.

Most significantly, I learned of the unimaginable resources and opportunities that students have in communities not so far from my own. I met some of the most intelligent and creative the students at the conference who were able to share with me how they have had an impact on sexual health within their school systems. We all come from school systems that provide very different levels of resources for their students, allowing for us to bring diverse experiences to workshops the in SBHA’s Be the Change Youth Training Program. Through exercising our creative thinking skills and participating in collaborative work, our ideas came to life. Listening to students discuss their experiences on youth advisory boards, participating in forum theatre, learning how to map out my community, and hearing about the positive impacts students have on their campuses gave me further insight on how to organize and reproduce these safe and supportive environments in my own school community and beyond.

These students have been given voices in their communities. They have been motivated by each other and those in power to make change. The students are not afraid to seek help, they don’t find it difficult to trust adults, and they take advantage of their resources. Not every school has the ability to create health centers, but we do have the ability to support, motivate, and listen to all students. In doing so, we will begin to see students find excitement and pride in being change makers in their communities.

I was proud to be a presenter in a workshop at the conference, titled Youth Partnership in Sex Ed, Sexual Health Services, and Safe and Supportive Clinic Environments. I was able to share my community’s story and explore the ways in which adults can partner with students, like myself and the others that I met, to improve health outcomes in their communities. I will be working with NCSD until August 18^th, and can be reached at intern1@ncsddc.org until that time. To learn more about NCSD’s adolescent sexual health work, please contact sstahlberg@ncsddc.org.