McDowell County is the newest YES! office, located in the town of Marion, NC. We are so excited about this office, not only because of the amazing youth team but the expansion of YES! more intentionally into rural North Carolina. We are so excited about this growth and what we will learn from working hand-in-hand with rural NC. Be on the lookout for what these phenomenal youth do next!

 

“In this life it’s yeet or be yeeted”

I’m Mari from the McDowell office. I’m a current sophomore at McDowell high school and I applied to YES! because I am passionate about social justice and racial equity but there was no organizations or programs in my community that worked on either topic. YES! has opened the door for so many opportunities that I would have never imagined having before. In my free time you can find me watching Netflix, singing , or eating snacks. I’m very passionate about musical theater and hope to one day be on broadway.

 

“It do be like the quite often.”

My name is Gabe, 16, and I attend McDowell Early College as a Junior. When I applied to YES! in December of 2017, I wanted to be part of this organization because not only does YES! involve youth, it is youth. YES! has a large role in public health, which is an area that I am concerned with, as I want to be a medical student and work in Healthcare. I saw this opportunity as very empowering and beneficial to both my community and myself. In my free time, I like keeping up with the News, reading, playing video games, and I actually enjoy some aspects of homework and research.

 

Hi, I’m Aaron from the McDowell office. I’m a sophomore at McDowell Early College and I applied to YES! in the hopes of somehow bettering my knowledge of social justice issues as well as improving my speaking skills. It definitely has, and much more than that. In my free time, I enjoy drawing, writing, animating, hiking, and moderating a number of different online art forums. I have never been the kind of person to accept someone else telling me how I should feel about something, and I have always felt strongly that if I speak for myself loud enough, others will hear me and either join me in speaking my mind or listen to what I have to say.  I feel like the Youth in society can make beneficial changes now more than ever, as illustrated in several recent Youth-led movements such as the Parkland students, and it’s like a dream come true to know I’m making said changes happen too.

 

Program Coordinator:

Daniel Ellis