Christie, Northern Arapaho, would like to be a We R Native Youth Ambassador so she can add to the voice of the native youth and encourage others to find their own voice.
There are a lot of great youth leaders and others who want to give back to their communities and they just need some positive encouragement to take that next step. I want to encourage all Native youth to set your goals high and don’t stop until you achieve your goals. Whether it’s playing sports, academics, making a change in your community or starting a business, if you work for it, you can achieve it. I would help and work with any youth that would need it. Together we can advocate for a better future for our youth and to someday eradicate the issues that Native youth are facing such as suicide, drug and alcohol use, bullying, dropping out of school and teen pregnancy. I am passionate about educating others about our culture and language. There are many in our community who are not aware of our culture, history and and just who we are as Native people. I make every effort to break the negative stereotypes that the community holds of Native youth and to show others that we are more than a Disney character or a page in a history book. I am also very passionate about building up the youth and giving them opportunity to give back to the community. I feel it’s important to involve youth at an early age in community service activities so that they can develop a lifetime commitment to giving back. The one personal attribute that I will bring to the position is open mindedness. I feel that this is important because open mindedness allows for the ideas and opinions of others to be heard, processed and supported without judgement. It seems like nowadays, people are too quick to judge without hearing the whole story and that’s why many Native youth feel their voice is lost
