On June 9, about 300 youth leaders from New York City high schools attended on June 9 the Youth Bridge Summit 2006. This year’s theme was “Youth &Media.”
Victor Wong, a member of the organizing group Youth Bridge-New York, said that media’s portrayal of youth often contains a lot of stereotypes. They hope to get a better understanding of how news are being presented in the media through open discussions. They also wanted to remind youth not to rely on one single medium as their news source and to use their own knowledge to analyze news coverage.
Youth Bridge was founded 10 years ago by the NY/Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). It is mostly attended by select talented high school students of different ethnic and religious backgrounds who are encouraged to develop their understanding and respect for different cultures and experience.
Wong, a Stuyvesant High School 11th grader, was urged to attend the Youth Bridge program by his mother.
“I have developed more confidence and self-respect since joining the program. I am no longer afraid to express myself and I believe that I can change the world for the better,” said Wong.
Wong said that he was quite shy and afraid to do public speaking in the beginning. After a year’s training, he can now eloquently articulate himself in front of a crowd. He has also become more conscious of the differences among cultures and races. He has not decided on a definite career path, except that he wants to go to Harvard University and he plans to major in science.
Youth Bridge has 25 members with three Chinese students. Wong said they usually meet once a month but met much more frequently to prepare for the Summit. They also visited a CBS-affiliated TV station and the Independent Press Association-New York. Anyone who is interested can visit their website at www.youthbridgeny.org.
The Summit was held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Invited speakers included Dominic Carter, a NY1 political reporter, and Sade Baderinwa, anchorwoman of WABC. Virginia Kee, a founding member of the Chinese-American Planning Council, and four other people who helped Youth Bridge, were interviewed and honored by students.
