We love our girl Ceci and we LOVE East Los High! Check out Ceci's awesome National Day message and don't forget to take the quiz!

I work with Let's CHAT, which started as a campaign to raise awareness of teen pregnancy in my community but eventually widened its focus to include many issues that teens experience in their generation. Working with this group taught me about relationships and I have developed a certain view on relationships in general. They are not all the same. 

Members of the Youth Leadership Teamvisit Washington, DC three times a year.  On their second visit, they attend meetings on Capitol Hill to meet with their Congresspeople and to educate them about teen pregnancy prevention.  This is Makeda’s story of her visit to the Hill.  The next Youth Leadership Team class will be recruited starting in February 2013; keep checking StayTeen.org for more info!

For all of you that haven’t been to Washington, DC, the home of our federal government and pretty much any “National Museum of ____” you could think of, it’s an awesome city.  Recently, I traveled there for the second of my Youth Leadership Team meetings, and I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to Capitol Hill and meet with Congressman Ackerman (D-NY) and Senator Schumer (D-NY), as well as their staff.  

It is not everyday we as teenagers get to rub elbows with the policymakers and leaders of our country. It is not everyday we as constituents get to call on the people who represent our interests and beliefs and tell them what is important to us. And it is not everyday we get to be a voice for teens all across the country and drink toasted marshmallow milkshakes in the same hour. As a member of the YLT, I got to do all of those things when I visited Capitol Hill last month to ask my congressmen to invest in evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs for the next fiscal year. On that day, I spoke to three staff assistants and one Representative about why teen pregnancy prevention is important to me and why it is should be important to them as well.