Happy New Year!!!

Our committee ended 2022 by helping our high school students complete their Moose Kids Talks and submit their reports. The Moose Kids Talks will be submitted for judging. The judging is done by honor students at a high school who have no participants in the Youth Awareness Program. The reports will be reviewed and ranked first place, second place, third, excreta until all the reports are ranked. If we have any ties, the process must begin over for those reports, until we have no ties. The entire Youth Awareness (YA) program is judged by students; no adults are involved in the judging process. When the process is done, we will have our top finalist. This year we will have four to five finalists for the California Nevada Moose Association (CNMA). These students will be our representatives at the Moose International Youth Awareness Congress.

The International Youth Awareness Program is sponsored by the Moose Legion. Our students from the CNMA have received over $30,000 in scholarship money over the last three years! Our student finalists receive a $500 check from the CNMA Moose Riders. They have given over $20,000, over those same three years. The CNMA YA committee and you the members through your Association dues provide all of the airline flights for our finalists. This has become quite costly over the years. The CNMA Youth Awareness Committee also gives each student completing their three Kids Talks and Kids Talks reports a $50 gift card (you need incentives for teenagers). We have given a LOT of $50 gift cards! Too many to count! But we do keep track. The Moose Lodges, Chapters, Moose Legions and Moose Riders, sponsor our students by paying a $35 application fee for each student wanting to participate in the program. As you can see a lot goes into the Youth Awareness Program!

So, the goal is to have one or more of our students earn a scholarship at the International YA Congress. We have done well over the years. I must be honest and tell you as much as our students are hoping for a scholarship, what they come home with is sometimes worth even more. They make lifelong friendships, they build confidence, they gain leadership skills, they build experience in public speaking and so much more!! So, scholarships are nice, but it’s not the only ‘win’ in the program. This has been told to me by many YA finalists.

None of this is possible without our YA Coordinators, Fred Reichelt, Lynn McDonald and Kathy Childs who cover the North and myself currently covering the South. I can’t begin to tell you the value of these people. The YA Committee is one of the most challenging committees I have ever served on. It is also the most fulfilling! We serve because we all love it! Thank you to Fred, Lynn and Kathy for your time and dedication you each give to our students and our program.

The International Youth Awareness Congress will be held in St. Louis, Missouri April 27 to May 1, 2023. Wish us luck! We will list the scholarship winners in our next article!

Thank you all for the support you give to our program and our students!

Serving from the Heart,
Bridget Robinson
Youth Awareness Chairman and Coordinator
(714) 638-8114
Bridge2moose@aol.com

YA Chairman Bridget Robinson, CA North Finalist Nathan Cheng, YA Coordinator Kathy Childs, CA North Finalist Karina Haddad and YA Coordinator Lynn McDonald

CA South Finalists Dennis Rojas, Jenisa Medina, Ellie Nguyen and YA Chairman Bridget Robinson

CA South Finalists Jenisa Medina and Ellie Nguyen

CA North Finalists Nathan Cheng and Karina Haddad