Bacon Academy hosts Youth Forum

Bacon academy students Lesi White (left), Cynthia Ortega and Jeline Buchwald introduced the school to the visiting students. Photos by Kevin Hotary.

Ask a dozen people what it means to be an adult and you will likely get a dozen different, and sometimes seemingly contradictory, answers.  This question, along with many others that are similarly difficult to answer illustrate the ambiguities that young teenagers face every day as they try to make their way through an increasingly complex world.  Like many of us, some go it alone, making do the best they can.  Some others are fortunate enough to have a trusted group of peers from whom they can learn, and perhaps more importantly, who listen to them as they work through life’s intricacies together. 

The Connecticut Youth Forum (www.ctforum.org/connecticut-youth-forum) was founded nearly 20 years ago as a vehicle to bring youths of diverse backgrounds together to openly discuss many of the issues and problems that they face every day.  Based in Hartford, the Youth Forum Consists of 40 schools from across the region and includes more than 750 students.  Once a month, groups of these students meet at one of the member schools for an open discussion on a topic chosen by the sponsoring group of the school.  Last Tuesday, Jan. 10, the Bacon Academy Diversity Club hosted more than 100 students from about 10 area schools for a youth forum titled “The Reality of Being an Adult.”   

“What you see here is the backbone of what we’ve been doing for the last 19 years,” said Naomi Reid, one of three facilitators at the forum.  Her role, as well as that of the others, was to ask broad questions related to the theme, and then let the students respond, in accordance with the Youth Forum Culture of Validation, which requires speakers to be positive about themselves and others.

So how do you define an adult?  While the answers expectedly varied, they were always insightful.

“I’ll be an adult when I am able to fully respect myself,” said Peython Echelson-Russell from Hall High School in West Hartford.  This thought was echoed by Kassy Morency from Bacon Academy, who said that “Being an adult means being happy with yourself.”

To Alyssa Berman of Glastonbury High School, part of being an adult “is being able to explore what you want to do.”  She told the group of her passion for photography, which she is learning from her father.  Being the pragmatist, however, she said that she would pursue a more “realistic” career for her future livelihood.  

The realities of getting a job and dealing with credit cards were a couple of the other topics raised at the forum, with many students rising to offer their views and advice on how to land a job and keep a job. 

The students also spent some time talking about role models, when Brandie Williams from the Hartford Job Corp Academy mentioned an unusual, but poignant, choice. “My role model is me,” she said.  She told of how she was working very hard to advance herself in the memory of her recently deceased mother. “I’m going to make her proud,” she said.