When Youth Find Their Voice!

Songwriter Darden Smith is known for cranking out a song in five minutes in a classroom of 20 to 50 youth in an effort to teach students how to harness their own creativity and encourage them to use their voice. ASCAP member Darden Smith does this on a regular basis in his Be An Artist Program, where he goes into classrooms armed only with his guitar, his laptop and a sense of humor.  Within the 50-minute sessions he approaches the students not as a teacher, performer or an entertainer, but as an enthusiastic artist who loves his craft. Students recognize what they love to do and are encouraged to try things they have never done before like writing a spur-of-the-moment song together. According to Smith “to be an artist” is to be creative, passionate and think big at whatever your pursuit is in life, from playing soccer, choosing a shirt to wear to school, enjoying a slice of pizza, developing an advertising campaign, managing a production line, to starting your own business.

"I don't tell them that they all should be songwriters that's the last thing the world needs!" he says. "But I do try to encourage them to find their passion and follow what they love to do." Smith started the Be An Artist Program in 2003 at local elementary schools in Austin, Texas, where he is based. Since then it has expanded to scores of middle schools and high schools across the United States and Europe. Smith has taught in schools in Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico, and in the suburbs of Atlanta as well as spending extensive time in schools near Glasgow, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Germany and Paris. From California to New York and across the Midwest schools in the United Kingdom, France and Germany also participate. His message is simple if you love to play video games then learn to be a software developer and create them. Love to skateboard? Look at Tony Hawk and how he made a career from it. Love clothes and shopping? You can be a stylist or a personal shopper. Smith started playing the guitar when he was nine years old and continues to uses his own life as an example. "I tell students, 'Look at me now! I'm 48 years old and I still love to play the guitar!'" He is a prime example of what happens “When Youth Find Their Voice!”

Mississippi Youth Takeover

The Mississippi 4-H Tech Team in Lucedale, Mississippi continues breaking through obstacles, tackling big problems and making measurable contributions where they live. When Hurricane Katrina struck Lucedale on August 29, 2005 the town of around 3,000 people were left without power and vital information from their traditional outlets of the radio and television. Since the popular social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter weren't included in the original communication plan, eight high school students from the Mississippi 4-H Tech Team knew it was time for action. With an understanding of the emerging role social media plays in the lives of millions of people the 4-H'ers met with Lucedale Mayor Doug Lee, the local fire and police department, the development association, chamber of commerce and other emergency management professionals, to train them on how to use social media to quickly communicate with the public and each other during an emergency.

As a result of this meeting on August 15, 2011 approximately 30 Lucedale residents crowded City Hall to learn from these youth on how Facebook, Twitter, blogs and YouTube are important communication tools during an emergency, as well utilizing these social media sites within their business for marketing. The 4-H Tech Team went into detail on how social media outlets work and trained the officials and business owners on a one-on-one basis. "If we were able to do this six months before Katrina hit, we would've been able to send out alerts to everyone in our community," said George County 4-H'er, Marissa Landen. "If they had their cell phone, now that Facebook is on cell phones, and if Wi-Fi was down at the time, they would know where to get water from and where to go find food from."  After conducting several training sessions for emergency management professionals throughout the state, this awesome group of high school students were able improve the emergency communication methods and developed a strong leadership role within their community.  The Mississippi 4-H Tech Team has conducted several trainings to emergency management professionals and business owners throughout the state of Mississippi, and continues to provide training sessions to three surrounding counties. This is an awesome example of youth leadership at it's finest!