On May 9th, NH Voices, Cookson Communications, and Makin’ It Happen coordinated an ‘Influencer Workshop’ for Bedford and Memorial High School students. Advisors from each school chose a small group of students to participate in this opportunity, as well as students that have previously worked with Makin’ It Happen on ‘MIH in the 603’ events.
Students were led through activities to get discussions started around their own social media presence, cyberbullying, and screen time. Tracy Bachert from Makin’ It Happen described that “the conversation naturally faded into a talk about perception… Perception of youth from an adult’s perspective, and how this generation wants to change it.” She goes on to describe how the students felt they were seen as ‘lazy’ and ‘unmotivated’. This progressed into an activity considering the topic of what they wanted the other generations to know about them [GenZ].
Tracy pinpointed some of her favorite statements from the second activity; ‘Grades don’t define you’, ‘We are trying’, ‘Being older doesn’t make you wiser’, and ‘We are the future’. “…It shows a different side of the tech obsessed, tik-tok-ing, unmotivated narrative we are fed from the media.” She ended it by adding, “I’m glad I get to be a part of this forum for youth, and I get to show the community who they are- strong, intellectual leaders.” Tracy is eager to continue her work with these students with more exciting events as part of the ‘Makin’ It Happen in the 603′ area.
Makin’ It Happen thrives on opportunities such as this for our youth, and we would like to thank everyone involved in organizing this workshop- NH Voices, Cookson Communications, the wonderful advisors, and their students from Memorial and Bedford High School. All photos were taken by Jim Stankiewicz (Memorial photographer) and Bruce Preston (Bedford photographer).
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Written by Ashley Bachert | Community Impact Communications Coordinator | June 1, 2023
