During the 2009/2010 school year, the Chappaqua PTA’s R21K Committee led by Lisa Levinson and Anne Caywood were able to pull together a number of community organizations to help sponsor a Youth Speak Out Initiative.[  The goal of the Youth Speak Out Initiative was to gain a better understanding of how New Castle teens are experiencing growing up in our community with the hope that information gained would allow our community to better understand where we are succeeding with our youth and where we can be providing them with better support.  As described more fully in the Youth Speak Out Short Summary.pdf the main thrust of the Initiative was a series of structured conversations with New Castle teens while a secondary component was seeking information from adults involved with our teens, including teachers, parents and community leaders.  Five themes emerged relating to how New Castle teens are experiencing life in Chappaqua (1) stress; (2) connections to peers, family and other adults; (3) recognition; (4) mixed messages around alcohol and other drugs and (5) transitions, particularly from middle school to high school.  The data gathered on these topics suggest that our community’s teens are not immune to the pressures of growing up in the 21^st century, and that adults involved in the lives of our teens can play a key role in supporting our children during these challenging developmental years.  What we learn from what these young people told us and how we act on that knowledge will define the strength of our commitment to them and their future. It is our hope that this Initiative will help our community to:

             ·         reduce the stress

·         strengthen the connections

·         recognize and celebrate individuality

·         strive to present practical, sensible and meaningful support on the issues of alcohol and drugs

·         seize the opportunities presented by transitional periods in adolescents’ lives to nurture capable, responsible, confident, caring and contributing adults.

We hope that we can continue the conversation among students, parents, teachers, administrators and other involved adults to identify action items that will make a difference for our youth.