YLO Spring Break 2026: Recap
Our Youth Leadership Organization (YLO) has completed another Spring Break camp! We had 8 youth, aged 12-17, join us this past week to learn about Theatre of The Oppressed from our guest facilitator, Bryan Parras. They practiced theatre exercises each morning, played together, and learned how to create scenes using improve and their own bodies to create imagery. These games and exercises helped the youth work through difficult scenarios they face every day at school such as how to handle finding a friend with a vape, how to talk to their parent about difficult questions they have, and how getting their bags searched at school makes them feel.
Day 1: YLO members learned about student activism through the ages and across the globe. Then they had a discussion with guest speakers from SA Students For Peace and John Herrera, movement elder and former SDS member. The youth asked great questions on how to get their friends involved and how to have hard political discussions with their classmates who are falling into right wing politics.
Day 2: The youth learned about zines (what they are and the history and cultural impact), read some zines from local zinesters, and even got to make some of their own zines. Thank you to Honey Mesquite Press and Muchacha Fanzine for donating a ton of great zines to our youth!
Day 3: The YLO had an art day! They learned different techniques to decorate t shirts and bandanas as well as getting to make their own YLO merch.
Day 4: The youth got to have a fun day at a new community center called Inn Lakech. They enjoyed a heartfelt and fun performance from Tia Power Story Hour and listened to a reading of the book All Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder and then sang karaoke together.
Day 5: Our last day of spring break. The youth spent the morning at Twig Bookstore helping prepare for the Tia Power Story Hour performance and then ended their day with a celebration at Peter Piper Pizza
Thank you to everyone who helped make this year’s Spring Break camp a huge success! Our next YLO endeavor will be monthly Youth Círculo meet ups where youth from all over the city will gather for field trips, meet ups, skill shares, workshops, art builds, and more. Keep an eye out for more details to come!
