SOS Outreach students spend evening with South Lake Tahoe leaders

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Youth participating in SOS Outreach participated in a leadership evening on Thursday evening where they listened to a panel of three South Lake Tahoe leaders and learned about how to create positive change in breakout sessions.

SOS Outreach is a national youth development nonprofit that mentors at-risk and underserved youth with positive adults through outdoor activities. Youth in their fourth year of the mentor program have been building and practicing leadership skills and other life skills over the past years and were chosen to participate on Thursday.

The three community leaders were South Lake Tahoe Mayor Jason Collin, Anjie Goulding, senior manager of Product Sales at Heavenly Mountain Resort, and Lisa Piazza, prevention educator at Live Violence Free.

Over the past five months, the selected students of SOS have been learning about different leadership styles and came prepared with questions for the panelists about leadership and creating positive change in the community. The youth got to know the panelists with questions including “How they got to where they are” and “Who inspired them to get there?”.

Following the question and answer period, there were two rounds of breakout sessions. SOS participants sat down in small groups with the leaders and asked them more questions.

SOS participant Wesley asked Mayor Collin some tough questions about housing and the economy. Wesley reflected later by sharing that he was inspired by Jason because he commented on how important the youth are as the future generation and how important it is to know what’s going on in the community.

Another participant, Skyla, was excited that she could call or text City Council to raise awareness about something that is happening in the community or walk right into a city council meeting and speak about it.

Many of the youth participants commented on how inspiring Lisa was because of all the ways she is able to help people through her position. "She is always a positive listening ear and that takes a strong compassionate person," said one.

Youth asked Anjie from Heavenly lots of questions about working for a large ski company. One of the high school participants said she found it impactful that Anjie is part of POWDER, a group that helps bring more equality in the workplace. The student commented on how cool it was for a ski company to have a program like that.

The youth walked away feeling empowered and encouraged to continue to work hard so they can be future leaders in their communities.

This night came on the heels of the organization's larger program, Week of the Winter. Going on now, SOS is connecting 2,005 kids, more than ever before, to the joy of skiing and snowboarding at 19 mountain resorts in nine different states. From the Cascades to the Sierras to the Rockies to the Midwestern hills, SOS is embarking on their largest week of programs to date.

Nearly all of these kids are enrolled in SOS’s longer-term Learn to Ride, Mentor, and Peer Mentor programs. This isn’t a one-and-done method. In Lake Tahoe this weekend there will over 400 youth out on the snow with positive adults and peers across five mountains.

For more information on the Lake Tahoe SOS Outreach, visit https://www.givebacktahoe.org/organization/Sos-Outreach.