Teen Committee is a committee within the city council which consists entirely of teenagers who provide the voice of the youth for the city. It is a board of students where teens can make the world a better place one step at a time.

One of their main projects this year is Teen Green. Teen Green is a sub-committee within the Teen bCommittee that volunteers to promote awareness within the community to keep the city clean and to dispose of all trash and unwanted things properly. In the program, they also go to the Claremont After School Programs and teach the children about the importance of recycling and picking up trash.

“I truly enjoy Teen Committee because it brings the Claremont community together and makes it a better place. Teen Green is a great program to make sure that the community stays clean and I love the fact that I can be apart of such a great team to make the world a better and cleaner place,” freshman Erin Dozier said.

Mental Health Awareness is another sub-committee that was formed last year to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness. For the sub-committee’s main event, a movie was played at the YAC called “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” which focuses on teens dealing with mental illness. To get a full picture on mental illness, a panel of psychologists, mental health professionals, and teens who struggled with mental illness shared their stories and experiences and answered questions about mental illness from the audience. This helped students get a better understanding on what it is like struggle with mental illness and how to receive treatment.

The Teen Committee is also adding a new sub-committee this year, called the Political Awareness sub-committee, which will seek to raise awareness of the importance of active participation among youth in this democracy. One of the most important aspects of a functioning democracy or democratic republic is that the citizens make a conscious effort to remain active in the voting process so that the elected officials will truly reflect the ideals of the whole nation.

“I have noticed that among students there seems to be almost a stigma with politics and that no one wants to be zealous in regards to them. However, this is something that needs to be addressed because no elder can really replicate the point of view that we, the youth, have, and this needs to be reflected in our voting,” senior Gavin Derleth said.

The Teen Committee also has a Youth Grant program,which provides grants to school-based, community, and other youth groups. Grants are intended to assist youth groups in providing service projects that benefit the community and, in particular, the youth of Claremont. The Teen Committee Youth Grant program has two primary components, which include an application and an evaluation process.

One club that has benefited from the Teen Committee’s grants is the Claremont Literary Journal. The club was awarded $1,500 to publish a journal of students’ work. This was the first time the Literary Journal applied for the Youth Grant. The finished product, a published journal, displayed CHS students’ raw talent through poetry, photography, and different genres of art.

Not only does the committee support youth groups in Claremont, but it nurtures the participants into becoming well-rounded individuals. Teen Committee is the backbone for Claremont youth to help guide them into becoming polished characters to help create a variety of advances in the world.