A local student group has burst onto the web this week in order to help more kids help each other and St. Albert.
A St. Albert youth group called Building Assets and Memories (BAM) launched a new website this week to help draw local students together to plan community and volunteer activities. BAM is backed by the city government and the RCMP.
This is BAM’s third year of operation, said Ben Huising, youth asset co-ordinator for the City of St. Albert and the group’s link to city government, and it’s grown immensely – it started with eight active members and now has about 120. “But there’s probably a thousand students out there that don’t know about BAM,” he added.
The group hopes to use social media and the new website to promote its activities and help parents find the resources they need to help youth grow, he said.
BAM formed as part of St. Albert’s 40 developmental assets strategy, Huising said, which is based on a theory from the Search Institute that youth are more likely to succeed as adults if 40 specific factors, such as community involvement, positive peer pressure and youth empowerment, are present in their environments.
It’s hard for students to meet people outside of their school and get involved in the community, said Emily Laycock, a Bellerose student and BAM member.
BAM is youth-led and citywide, she continues, and draws together students from junior high to university. “We are the youth and we know what youth want.”
The group provides volunteer and recreational activities for young people and keeps them out of trouble, Laycock said. “The amount of volunteer work I’ve done with BAM just over the past year is crazy.”
The group acts as sort of a clearinghouse for skills and ideas. Group members will raise issues or needs they see in the community that they want to address, Huising said, and the rest of the group will organize activities to do so.
The group’s members were concerned about mental health, Huising said as an example, so they’ve started touring junior high schools to tell students where to turn if they need help. “They wanted to do something meaningful with seniors, so for the last year and a half we have had volunteers at the Youville every Friday night.”
Other student ideas have led to the 2012 Canada Day Long-Boarding Competition, seven community dances and the upcoming all-nighter event at Servus Place, Huising said. This May, they’ll be starting a project called BAM U (as in university) where members will offer free lessons on various subjects (starting with how to be a disc jockey).
“If it’s something you’re passionate about or excited about, let us know and we’ll see what we can do.”
These activities build youth assets and keep youth away from crime and other risky behaviours, said Brent Saccucci, one of BAM’s founders. “We’re making friendships, we’re helping and all along we’re having fun.”
He hoped the website would help the group grow beyond St. Albert. “Without BAM, I wouldn’t be the leader I am today.”
Visit bamforyouth.ca for details.
