Teens develop skills, serve through Youth Leaders of Menifee

Youth Leaders of Menifee meet regularly at Lazy Creek Recreation Center. (Photo by Kelvin Portillo)

By Kelvin Portillo, Correspondent

Youth Leaders of Menifee (YLM) is an after-school program designed for high school students to build positive impact within the community and develop job readiness for their future. Held at Lazy Creek Recreation Center, the meetings give teenagers the opportunity to volunteer at City of Menifee events and promote their own implemented programs or activities.

Community involvement is a core aspect of the program. Teens not only earn community service hours, but it enables them to create events they think might serve best youth. Although the program is run by the City of Menifee, teens are in control of creating, planning, and executing activities when they’re not volunteering for teen related city-sponsored events. In fact, word of mouth about YLM is spread from current members to other teens to join.

According to the YLM overview statement, members can “develop leadership skills, enhance communication and build self-esteem and confidence.” YLM leadership is structured in two parts: Regular members and officer positions. Regular members are any high school student who wants to be involved in volunteering, while president and vice president officer positions are elected by a vote from their peers.

There are 11 officer positions set for September until May of each term. In order to maximize efficiency, most members are split into three different groups. Green team is responsible for environmental factors like working with Park Rangers; Youth team focuses on events of elementary age or younger; and Teen team plans for middle school and high school age related events.

The requirements to join is to be a current high school student either living or attending school in Menifee, and to be able to attend scheduled meetings and events. Regular member meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. and officer meetings are held every second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 5 p.m. A form to join can be submitted online through the City of Menifee website.

Michael Rinehart, community services coordinator, oversees the program and is impressed with the level of dedication he notices from the members as he acknowledges how busy high school students are with extracurricular activities.

“One of the goals we have as staff with these teens is we’re really giving them the opportunities to develop skills they can use outside of high school. We try to give them work experience and kind of guide them on how to connect with the community and network,” said Rinehart.

YLM offers Menifee high school students the chance to reign over their own future with the opportunities to network with peers and members of the community.

Paloma Valley High School student and Vice President Madison LeFlore described her experience with YLM.

“I joined 2020 of my sophomore year over COVID,” she said. “I was looking for a way to just reach out to my community. I saw a lot of people my age struggling, and I figured by pushing myself out of my comfort zone in that trying time, then I could help people in a time when we all really needed somebody.”

President Meagan Macatangay said there are many benefits to the program.

“This program is probably one of the most fulfilling things you can do with your time,” she said. “It’s really enlightening to see what you can do for your community, getting involved, meeting new people. Also, it taught me a lot about myself. It taught me that working with kids really is for me because in my career I plan to be a pediatric and this program really solidified it for me.”

To apply for a position on Youth Leaders Menifee, click this link on the city's website.