Photos courtesy of We Are the Next.
Long Beach-based nonprofit organization We Are the Next announced Monday that applications are now open for its 2018 Youth Heritage Summit at the Homestead Museum in the City of Industry.
The three-day summit July 19 – July 21 gives teens an opportunity to “build a relationship with surrounding cities, meet new friends, and explore career paths in history, the arts, and community service,” according to the release.
Space is limited to 20 participants, with the program to conclude at the Homestead with a Town Hall event that is open to the public.
To be eligible, applicants must:
- Be between the ages of 14 and 19 years old in the month of July 2018.
- Reside in the Los Angeles region, the South Bay/Long Beach region, the San Gabriel Valley, the Inland Empire or Orange County.
- Complete an application with a thoughtful response to application questions by midnight on June 3 found via the link here.
“Students at our 2016 summit built strong bonds with each other and the heritage in their region. This year, we look forward to providing the same opportunity to youth in the San Gabriel Valley and throughout the Los Angeles region,” We Are the Next’s Executive Director, Katie Rispoli Keaotamai, said in a statement.
The Youth Heritage Summit program is offered across the country to teens at historic sites. Two years ago We Are the Next completed the first summit in California at Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Kern County. In 2018, and in an effort to include more participants, the program will be held in a more central location.
Those selected for the summit will choose between three focus tracks which will customize their experience to fit their interests: social media, graphic design and historic site interpretation. Additionally, all student activities will tie in with the following three themes:
1. What does it mean to be a Californian?: Participants will explore the relationships of the Workman and Temple families (which united people of Mexican and Indigenous backgrounds with Anglo settlers) in order to understand the unique trajectory of racial identity and class in
California over the last 200 years.
2. What is the shape of ‘Community’?: Participants will evaluate the unique setting of the Homestead Museum in the City of Industry, to see how community takes form in a city with a population of under 200 residents, yet a daily visiting population of about 80,000 workers.
3. How do historic places relate to us?: Participants will discuss the ways historic places do and don’t relate to the upcoming generation both in their stories and in the ways they communicate, and why we still depend on them in present day.
“The Homestead is excited to serve as the host site and partner in their year’s Youth Heritage Summit,” stated Director of Public Programs for the Homestead Museum Alexandra Rasic. “We can’t wait to see the next generation of advocates for historic places in action as they explore the resources of our historic site and engage with professionals in the field of public history, design, and more.”
To apply, visit the link here.