001[Music] hello [Music] no [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] my [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good evening everyone my name is cynthia felix laura student ambassador and i will be leading you in the pledge of allegiance please stand place your right hand over your heart ready begin i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all you may remain stated good evening everyone and welcome to this wonderful event my name is autumn brown and one year ago i left the classroom after teaching for 25 years at brooker's junior high school i was the drama teacher and i'm thrilled to be back tonight to guide you
002through tonight's event the soapbox speech finals are being brought to you this evening in partnership with the auhsd and mikvah challenge under the guidance of our superintendent michael matsuda auhsd is a recognized leader both and in the state and nationally for its innovative work in the areas of civic engagement youth voice and promoting 21st century skills for its students to tell us a little bit more and welcome you officially please give a round of applause to our superintendent michael matsuda [Applause] good evening everybody it's really an honor to uh to be here and to listen to our student voices i'd like to uh first of all put a shout out to our our students let's put a round of applause for them and a round of applause to our our parents to really appreciate you
003supporting us and you know to develop and cultivate student voices and student leadership we need teacher leadership so i want to acknowledge all the teachers and their hard work to help you get to today's semi-final event so i'm here with a colleague dr barnett berry from the university of south carolina he just came he just came in from vancouver he's been doing a study of many leading districts in developing student voice but also developing teacher leadership and he shared with me a a quote from some of the uh the teacher and admin leaders up in vancouver surrey unified school district so i thought i'd share this with you it's really a wonderful quote by richard wagners we are story all of us what comes to matter then is the creation of the best possible story
004while we are here you me us together we change the world one story at a time congratulations to all of you thank you so much i'd like to introduce a few special guests tonight as people from the board of trustees first our trustee president anna piercy also from the board of trustees anne-marie randall trejo and brian o'neill so the name of this event is the soapbox speech and you might wonder well what does that mean exactly when someone's on their soapbox it means that they're talking passionately about something that they really believe in and the term goes back to back in the day soap was delivered in wooden boxes not in those plastic tubs we get at the supermarket now and if someone had something they wanted to talk about they got one of those
005wooden soap boxes went to the park stood up on it and extolled their thoughts about whatever the issue was of the day so today we are going to hear some of the wonderful things that are on the minds of our students i do not envy our judges to try to determine who is the most effective speaker tonight let me let you in on a little secret what they will be looking for our speakers will be judged on content is the issue clearly explained and is there evidence to support it structure and style is it organized does it capture our attention and lastly the delivery body language vocal variety and articulation let's take a moment to meet our judges if you would please stand up say your name and an issue that is important to you
006just a phrase or a word mr switzer we'll start with you good evening everybody thank you for being here my name is mike switzer i'm the district's english language arts curriculum specialist and something that is close to my heart is equity in education good evening everyone my name is rita ray i'm director of human resources with our district and um an issue that is of concern for me right now is global warming [Applause] good evening everyone my name is tolteca quoting here with make of a challenge and i'm actually here's a proxy for our president renee green who is flying out from chicago for this event and we'll be joining shortly as a judge an issue i care about is youth voice and advocacy and youth voice and decision making which isn't included enough and
007that's what this is about tonight as well so thank you so much good evening everybody my name is manuel colon and i'm the chief academic officer for the anaheim union high school district so proud to be here and my uh issue today is sustainable fashion i think many times we don't think about the impact that what we wear has on the environment wow and actually perfect timing vernee green just arrived from chicago y'all uh just your name and one issue [Applause] hi everyone i do apologize uh vernet green ceo of mikva challenge i am not just arriving from chicago today but navigating your city is an experience for me even though i do appreciate the weather thank you so much for saving it and the sunshine for me the issue that is most pressing for
008me is equitable education making sure that students have opportunities terrific thank you so much i'm going to give you a little bit of background before we get to our main event our action civics partner is mikvah challenge an educational organization dedicated to establishing a more inclusive democracy based on three principles youth voice matters our youth are experts on issues that affect them and that our communities are stronger when youth leaders are involved in all aspects of civic life as part of their work mikvah conducts soapbox speech showcases all over the country and we're very excited that they're here in anaheim tonight and now it is our opportunity to hear what issues are on the minds of our students in anaheim union high school district what you are about to see and hear are the best
009student public speakers representing every high school and every junior high school in auhsd each of these students has crafted a two to three minute soapbox speech regarding an issue that is important to them we'll be hearing from eight junior highs and 11 high school speakers so the moment we've all been waiting for let's get started and hear from our first speaker from walker junior high eva martin please come up ava [Applause] uh every day teenagers wake up to their phone whether it's to check the time or to turn their alarm off ninety percent of teens which is a good some of us here are checking our phones in the morning most likely to check social media in our generation social media is like a drug we are hooked onto a simple app with pictures or
010videos of other people now raise your hand if you have a social media account keeping your hand up if a social media app like instagram tick tock or snapchat is something you check every day now keep your hands up if social media has affected the way you look at yourself keeping your hands up look at your peers everyone that has their hands up around you has been faced with the unrealistic beauty standards of social media today now put your hands down instagram to tick-tock growing hormonal teenagers are slammed with these impossible standards on these apps there are many ways to make each other feel insecure from telling people they should have perfectly clear faces to having a perfect body shape when i look at myself in the mirror my mind always goes back to analyzing
011myself and comparing myself to these perfectly fit posed and worked out bodies i feel as if i could hide myself behind makeup change myself to become prettier but for what for who because i know it's not all for myself it's for others and it's to show others that i'm living up to that standard we are given today statistics from harvard business schools show that 97 of teams have access to social media without supervision two in every three of those teams follow beauty influencers and models every day we are faced with perfectly beautiful people and we might feel as if we're not in par being constantly online will often permanently damage the way you see yourself an example of this is that the heat of most eating disorders today start from social media the way eating
012disorders affect our body it's not allowing us to receive enough nutrients to be living those healthy lifestyles because people want to have that perfect body look the way you your health could be affected as well as the way you function in important areas of life from not eating alone the way social media has affected our society today it's telling everybody that they should look like taylor swift or ariana grande that they should have a perfect jawline a perfect side profile a perfect body but that perfect is impossible us as a community need to take into consideration that as much as we change ourselves we won't be living up to that unrealistic standard we are given today to stop the spread of this toxic belief we can manage our time on social media apps also the
013toxic people that are perpetuating these standards can stop this by showing their harmless imperfections and to stop heavily editing their photos to then say it is a hundred percent natural it is us who are keeping the toxic standards of today and we need to start training our minds to reverse these thoughts we need to change and we want to change we want to show everybody that you don't need to change yourself to look like someone else to feel pretty or to feel handsome we need to learn there is no perfect and we need to stop thinking there is [Applause] thank you so much ava every student is number one at their school and each will be receiving a trophy to take home as well as the third second and first at the end of our
014evening [Applause] if you'll take a look at your programs those of you that are speaking and you know that you're coming up next maybe while the person is before you is on stage you can make your way down to the foot of the stairs so we'll be ready to go anyway next on our list we're very happy to hear from south junior high andrea nario [Applause] now before i start imagine this in your head you're walking down the street trying to get to your destination going down the crosswalk passing by the bus stop and there you see in the distance right there hiding in the shade from the cruel weather is a somebody wearing ragged clothing and harsh conditions pleading for someone to let them spare change startled by the sun expression you freeze in
015the spotlight what would you do in the moment most people will look away cowering in fear by the somebody's miserable appearance not even sparing them a glance a small percentage helping with open arms that somebody just encountered in your mind is just the one percent of the skyrocketing total of 580 466 people who are experiencing homelessness in the united states on any given day according to the statistica my name is andrea nario and i will be talking to you about home assist in the united states of america homelessness has become a crisis in the high rise doubling up in our home state and yet the government is swatting away this national problem like it was nothing based upon the information on britannica the number of homeless citizens alone had a shocking number of 3 million
016people in the 1980s according to united states intricacy council on homelessness did you know there is a total of 8 000 30 family households struggling to fend for themselves mothers anguish for their children's well-beings fathers scraping loose change just to feed their families at night their children unable to get a proper education there are many reasons why these families are struggling on the streets but it's answer many lies in poverty and housing according to britannica see i had this incident that happened in my local community my mom along with others are part of a local facebook group that talk about current problems and events to have it around our local neighborhood one day my mom receives his notification on her phone about a woman seeking advice about her troubles in her post she states that
017a single mother and her kids sleep every night inside her patio the mother being a portable heater during those cold rainy nights people in our communities started the judge from before but from the woman's own personal source she was afraid of taking her and her kids to a safe haven afraid that something or someone would harm them luckily the police got involved with the situation and it was handled professionally but the incident just stuck with me society these days doesn't cove doesn't judge the cover of someone's appearance not digging down was truly behind their story so why am i telling you this people similar to the single mother and her kids deserve a second chance life no matter what bring awareness to the problem is the best solution petitions safe protests letters to the government
018donating to your local homeless shelter and or organization all these paths lead to a brighter future for both sides so please be that someone to not only help somebody but everyone thank you [Applause] thank you andrea uh just a note to our speakers you do not have to put pick up the microphone if you prefer to just use the stand that's absolutely fine as well and if you need to adjust it just yes yes go ahead if you need to sure very excited for our next speaker are judges ready i don't want to rush you thank you from oxford academy nathan pereira [Applause] when we hear the words indigenous and native many people picture an image of someone barely clothed with colors streaked on their skin and feathers attached to their heads an image created
019by false and harmful stereotypes that have been inflicted upon native people for centuries we tell ourselves that these people are just a myth and treat them as if they are non-existent in modern society when in reality these people still thrive and live among us today unfortunately many people are unaware that native women faced murder rates that are 10 times the national average and due to a variety of reasons these cases rarely receive any justice when we ignore their stories and let their humanity become just another statistic we ultimately send the message that their lives are irrelevant according to the coalition to stop violence against native women four of five native women have experienced violence in their lifetime in addition 710 cases of missing indigenous people were reported from 2011 to 2020 and of these 87
020percent were juvenile and 54 percent were female these numbers are way more than just statistics they represent how native lives are constantly dehumanized hyper-sexualized and face racism not to mention other layers of oppression based on sexual and gender identity this issue is ultimately a consequence of our country's history of colonization during which native people were dehumanized labeled as savages forced to alter their gender norms and were deprived of land and rights so what can we do about this we can first address the violence enacted towards the native community and we should enforce and support laws made to assist the community we can start by educating ourselves and following the works of organizations such as the coalition to stop violence against native women indigenous voices must be heard we can do this by engaging with our
021friends and adults as well as using social media to amplify native voices hope is ultimately not out of reach we as a future generation must come together so we make sure that indigenous lives are heard the indigenous community have experienced the scars of intergenerational trauma for centuries and to journey towards healing our society must come together and spread awareness thank you [Applause] some very powerful and very sensitive topics will be discussed tonight and we appreciate your attention next up from lexington junior high josh marinas [Applause] can we all agree that every second in our lives matter from choosing the clothes you wear every day an answer to a homework question or even a trigger from a gun no matter how mundane each second is it is important to treasure it because only one second can
022change your life forever hi my name is josh marines and as a 40 year old kid it is very hard to speak from experience but i know for a fact that a teen takes his or her life every two hours i know for a fact that nearly 20 percent of those teens experience low self-esteem this means the people you're sitting right next to have a chance that they have low self-esteem and unless they share it you will never know about their mental suffering notice how a second ago i said mental suffering and not mental illness this is because society has labeled it a disorder a disability something they are unfortunately going through yes illnesses can be cured but how many of you are willing to share personal details with a doctor that you don't even
023know according to walden university only 30 percent of those with low self-esteem receive treatment that's because low self-esteem is intimate personal and private we are so scared of hiding our feelings from others and afraid of being judged and embarrassed but when others finally dare to speak up what do we do we we ask our question why why do they feel like this it's because we're uncomfortable feeling helpless and not understanding a friend i had an acquaintance of mine who wanted to kill himself because of his low self-esteem and i'm so grateful that he told our circle of friends but i felt so helpless because i could not understand him he said i don't know how to control this you don't know how much i have to go through please everyone close your eyes and open
024your hands now imagine what you can place in those hands an apple maybe your phone now open your eyes what about life because his life was in my hands every second that passed was a life and death situation whatever i said could impact mine and his life forever thankfully my friend is still alive for me to hang out with today but how about all the other teens who are suffering the ones with the illness or disease the ones who won't allow treatment for their low self-esteem one way to help those with low self-esteem is to understand what it is low self-esteem is about appreciation for yourself and most teenagers are affected by low self-esteem because of you guys what you say and think affect teenagers our society is so toxic it is so easy to
025say something without thinking everyone says that our generation is responsible for the end of global warming racial discrimination and violence how are we supposed to help our world if we keep polluting each other's minds and souls our technology was created for our purpose to better the lives of others so use it correctly encourage others with your cheerfulness and smile when they frown knowing that someone is there during rough times can truly help them we have reached a generation where kindness could either be evolved or extinct so i ask you to lead by example because one day life may be in your hands and only a second can change it thank you [Applause] next up from orangeview junior high nicole martinez [Applause] my name is nicole martinez and i will be talking about the issues with
026animal testing and the solutions now i'm sure some of you have pets at home including dogs cats guinea pigs and bunnies to us they are loving companions but to some people they are merely seen as testing objects most of us have noticed cruelty free labels on products in the store but have you ever seen the horrible things done to these innocent beings in labs imagine being locked in a lab with no food or water having people inject a needle into your eye experiencing unbearable pain this is the sad reality of many animals out there this is a problem in our society because it is unethical firstly not all animal testing harms animals but in many cases there are cruel things done to animals for instance animals are burned shocked poisoned isolated starved addicted to drugs
027and brain damage some even suffer having holes drilled into their skulls and many more these types of animal testing should be banned testing can be done with numerous other methods one is in vitro testing which is done with samples from the human body testing human cells in silicon models and human patient simulators are more alternatives this is important because it's hurting innocent animals not only that but the inaccuracy of these tests can have a negative impact on us as humans according to the peta association 95 of all drugs that are shown to be safe and effective in animal tests fail in human trials because they don't work or are dangerous some argue that these alternatives don't work but in fact they are cheaper quicker and more effective in addition most diseases that affect humans do
028not affect animals making these practices unnecessary many products primarily makeup products are tested on animals something you could do to help is to avoid buying buying products that are animal tested you can check that they aren't animal tested by looking the cruelty by looking for the cruelty-free label on the product another way you could help is to educate others on the topic that way more and more people will be encouraged to jump into action you could speak up about companies that practice in humane animal testing as well [Applause] from ball junior high someone who's ready to come up grant gallagher [Applause] hello so you all probably know what the death penalty is it's a punishment given to people who have committed a serious crime and will result in the person being executed however what you
029may not know is how flawed the process of getting somebody onto the death slow is so if you haven't so i'm grant gallagher and if you haven't guessed already i'm here to talk about the death penalty and specifically why we should stop it with starters it's getting innocent people killed according to the national academy of sciences around four percent of people on deso are likely innocent this would mean that uh this is it i cannot do this does it mean that this this government approved policy is getting innocent people killed this along with this the death penalty is a violation against human rights when thinking about the topic of human rights many things may come to mind however the thing that stands out here is the right to life and i do not think you
030can find a more clear violation than a death sentence along with this removing the death penalty would increase funding in other projects the death penalty is a fairly expensive process in fact so expensive it output it beats the life sentence as as an article has stated from hg.org the death sentence costs around 10 times more than a life sentence this would mean that if we were to replace the death sentence with something like the life sentence we would have more funding to better for better punishments and ways to stop people from committing crimes that would get them on dust so in the first place sadly it's uh not it's not the easiest to stop the death penalty it's a government it's a government controlled thing and and there are not too many ways to to
031fight against it however we can still help against it for starters we restart our polls as of right now california is one of these three states who have not decided whether to stop or keep it if anything came up for if any poll were to come come up for it there is a pretty obvious choice on um there's a pretty there is a pretty obvious choice you could also raise awareness small talk conversations anything that would help more people know know the problem with the death penalty so if you and the person sitting next to you and everybody else in this room would help out we can stop the death penalty [Applause] and now from dale junior high ella sidi muhammad [Applause] in our society each one of us lives wherever we want to without
032the threat of war or the fear of being displaced this may be a reality for you but for the countless number of refugees worldwide that's only something they can hope for what is a refugee a refugee is someone who has fled their home due to some form of violence or war wars began due to the insane greed our leaders have for power and with that in mind they have no sympathy no humanity and they make no exceptions in order to get what they want this of course creates refugees and the problem just keeps getting worse for example according to the u.n there are about 82 million refugees worldwide that's equivalent to a quarter of the us's population and that figure doesn't even take into account the 4.7 million new refugees coming from ukraine speaking of
033ukraine check out this headline i read a few days ago that reads ukrainian mother writes her contact information on her toddler's back as the war rages we usually memorize our parents phone numbers in case we get separated but have you ever thought of a war tim excuse me tearing you apart from your loved ones maybe forever i understand a situation like that must be pretty hard for you to imagine so let me put it this way what if you were a deer you live day-to-day in your ecosystem roaming about with your herd when suddenly a tiger pounces on you viciously praying on you and your group and you're thinking what is this animal doing here this is not his habitat or his environment he's ruining it all that's exactly how a refugee feels why are
034these soldiers killing my people why are these tanks roaming through my neighborhoods why am i running away from my home the only home i've ever known those innocent men women and children that have those thoughts racing through their heads on a daily basis we'll never feel truly at home again now for a problem as big as that of course there are some solutions for one thing governments really need to cut back on military spending so we won't have that much resources for war and for another humanitarian agencies such as the u.n could work together in order to host and protect our refugees the most effective solution is for each and every single one of us to make a personal commitment to helping these troubled people so advocate for them support them open your doors to
035them and if your leaders don't let you tell them to stop making refugees if they're not willing to host any why should millions suffer in a situation they didn't create nor choose don't be afraid to talk about things like this because in the words of malala yousafzai and i'd like you to take this to heart there's a moment where you have to choose whether to be quiet or to stand up i'm allah muhammad and i choose to stand up i'm asking you to stand with me thank you [Applause] and now our final junior high speaker from brookhurst junior high miriam elkellis [Applause] stuck in a toxic cycle the lack of self-discipline chipped away at me disappointment threaded through my veins crying at night was normal and i can't count how many broken promises i've made
036to myself unfortunately this cycle is common for most teenagers hello my name is mariam alkaresh i will be discussing the impact of cultivating self-discipline the national library of medicine explains that practicing self-discipline is directly linked to an increase of feelings of contentment and satisfaction the american psychological association defines self-discipline as the control of one's impulses and desires foregoing immediate satisfaction in favor of long-term goals self-discipline is a significant skill because it builds on self-control willpower consistency and ultimately helps make our dreams a reality a recent article in american scientists concludes that childhood self-discipline strongly predicts adulthood success the national institute of health found that youth who failed to learn self-discipline were 43 percent more likely to become involved in drugs crime obesity related diseases and financial instability whoa however a lack of self-discipline cannot solely
037be blamed on our youth other factors are at play such as brain development and economic status frontiers in psychiatry found that the prefrontal cortex that governs self-discipline is not fully developed until age 24. this development can be significantly more difficult for kids to grow up in poverty clearly self-discipline is a complex and diverse problem however one thing is apparent to lay a foundation of self-regulation discipline and control we need to begin early pbs for kids found that self-regulation begins to build between ages three to four it's easier to teach kids these skills at a young age because their minds are malleable therefore early education in america must be improved instead of day cares we need public preschool staffed by teachers with degrees in early childhood education society wins when we value a preschool education teenagers
038and adults can practice self-discipline with four simple steps first commit set your intention to genuinely desire self-discipline to help you persist in times of demotivation second identify your strengths and your weaknesses tackle and take down your weaknesses while using your strengths to aid you third make a plan what goal do you want to achieve and how fourth and final track your progress this is imperative because it allows you to observe and make changes to suit your self-discipline journey self-discipline acts as a foundation for our aspirations picture a productive society where everyone knows how to harness the benefits of self-discipline drug and technology addictions chronic poverty health issues all the negative things plaguing our society extinct thank you [Applause] many years ago there was a study done that asked people what they were afraid of and
039people submitted moving divorce heights spiders the number two fear on this list ended up being death the number one fear that people had was speaking in front of an audience people would rather die than speak in front of an audience but i think you will agree with me that what we have seen so far is a beautiful expression of intelligence creativity and strength please let's give our junior high school speakers a big round of applause and let's move on from anaheim high school esmeralda lopez academic pressure is like the tale of sisyphus for all eternity he is forced to push this heavy boulder up a mountain only for it to fall back down and have to do it all over again this is how it feels to be a student as the weekend comes we
040feel relieved but it goes by so fast then we have to do it over again with more tests more assignments more stress don't even mention finals we are pressured by our peers parents and teachers to have the perfect grades take honor and ap courses in order to stand out and to make it into the perfect ideal college according to the american psychological association latest stress report in 2020 it mentions that 87 percent of college students reported that their education is a significant source of stress the pressure students feel is quite real and intense when i get a portrait i feel like it's the end of the world and my self-esteem tumbles off the side of a cliff my name is esmeralda lopez and i am a high school junior who suffers from academic pressure in
0412019 the pew research center found that 61 percent of teens felt a lot of pressure to get good grades according to an article published by insight higher ed a 16 year old who attended newport harbor high school sadly took his own life away due to the amounting of academic pressure success in schools we failed to see the gravity of the situation until a 16 year old takes his own life away and leaves behind only several notes the teenage boy said i couldn't go on anymore because of the academic pressure at his highly competitive high school where going to a good college is the norm and what parents and teachers expect top performance as a society we are called to take action on issues such as academic pressure we won't fully reach the point of fully
042fixing the issue because various factors also need fixing i propose a study hall unlike those lame ones we've seen in the past imagine a study hall where we feel we are home a safe place to chat get things done and study for tests with time ideally we would get any homework done meet with teachers and address our daily stress so by the time we get home we won't worry as much although this wouldn't fully solve the issue of academic pressure it would be a great start thank you [Applause] and from kennedy high school anthony sperry [Applause] just this year i had a conversation like this guys did you see someone's trying to threaten the school i i i saw photos online and they said that there was a gun and that someone was gonna threaten
043the school tomorrow and we were wondering should we even go is it safe are we safe one within the past couple of years school shootings have been publicized all over the medium from the inside we see the victims and their faces we see videos that capture the most gruesome footage and we also see people dying for change two according to the united states department of education in 2019 five percent of students ages 12 to 18 reported that they had been afraid to go to school because of things such as harm and violence three according to the department of homeland defense and security there have been over 1900 school shootings since 1970. yes and while that occasion is very rare it is still very apparent and in 2021 there were 249 occurrences and in 2019 4.
044yes those instances are rare and we hope that is something that students will never have to face five but what about the things we do face what about violence drugs fighting all of those things are common around our school campuses and they're happening more than ever six we like to say why is this happening i don't know why school school violence is happening in our campuses anymore and we have to say we aren't doing enough why am i no no why aren't we doing enough seven martin luther king once said peace is not merely a distant goal we seek but a means by which we come together and arrive eight i say let's take a stand nine let's bring educational programs for our youth across campuses let's create rehabilitation centers for students and let's create
045clubs and events that surround violence prevention and so that the next time a student counts to 10 it isn't because they're scared it's because they have a moment for them to breathe and say i'm safe you're safe we're safe thank you from anaheim lc cassandra almeida [Applause] a six-year-old brown skin little girl ashamed for being the darkest in her class classmates who made her feel inferior no longer a little girl but a strong 17 year old who finds humor and grown men yelling at her to go back to her country who has found beauty in her brown skin her name is cassandra almeda and she stands before you announcing that her culture is beautiful and it took her some time to appreciate it eleanor roosevelt once said that no one can make you feel inferior
046without your consent so i cassandra almeda will never give anyone my consent to make me feel inferior or less than for years people have used the hatred in their hearts to be little people of color finding any reason to make us feel inhuman wanting no no making us change who we are and what we believe in in the 1930s mexican repatriation patients with skin like mine were deported and no longer treated jose lopez fell victim to the mexican reputation and was deported back to michoacan when he was only five years old sadly both of his parents and one of his brothers passed away jose lopez and his remaining siblings managed to return back to the states in and later on testify against the discrimination he had endured the chicano movement made to fight this kind
047of discrimination made to fight for education reforms made to fight for rights for the land workers who worked on the farms made to fight for our negative stereotypes now i wish i could stand here and tell you all that it's going to be rainbows and butterflies that were all going to sit in a little circle and hold hands and sing kumbaya but i can't tell you that because it's far from reality and i'm not going to sugarcoat and tell you that i have hope that it's all going to end because it's not a simple solution would be to simply agree to keep all hateful speech in our heads and not react with hateful emotion but then again it's far more deeply rooted we need to teach the younger generation that being different is beautiful that
048nobody is better than anybody because of the tint of their exterior and i'm not going to sugarcoat again and tell you that it's going to end because it's not and i'm not going to expect fully grown adults to change their perspectives and fully like and fully brush away racism because they're not going to they're not going to change their perspectives but i can tell you that i have hope i have hope that it's not going to be as common i have hoped that racism won't be the topic of every news story or be in every single headline i have hope that in the future instead of racism we have the kindness of humanity being restored and everyone will at least accept each other and keep the hateful speech in their minds my name is cassandra
049and i thank you for your time [Applause] from cypress high school rebecca cho [Applause] whenever i'm watching a movie or a tv show i often find myself disappointed in the way the women characters are written in fiction they're seen as one-dimensional devoid of any multi-faceted identity and i soon began to realize that in our non-fictional world women are treated the same way and that got me thinking about one of the deadliest crimes facing women today femicides are violent discriminatory crimes towards women because they are women take for instance 25 year old ingrid escamilla who was found by local police brutally murdered and skinned local newspapers turned her story into a spectacle a joke by publishing photographs of her mutilated body with fun headlines such as it was cupid's fault avoiding to even name her perpetrator
050legally speaking femicides are not taken and treated as seriously as they should be in brazil they have among the worst registration and data systems in the world for femicides mexico's president refuses to make laws to protect women from these crimes and according to the world health organization one in three women worldwide have experienced a form of sexual harassment and that number it only gets higher when we think about queer women women of color disabled women and more there is no urgency to change and assess our femicide problem so this carelessness results in a culture that's hostile and homicidal towards women when discussing solutions everything needs a starting point so let's start femicides are bad no killing women is bad i mean it's not that hard well i don't think it is to tackle all of
051these injustices in the world it's important to create a beginning something that simply starts the conversation so a solution strengthening legal defenses with law it's important to create a legal framework in which femicides can be reported and prosecuted securely this means having them being recognized as their own charge women-driven crimes need to be confronted with women-driven solutions this creates a world where women are able to feel safe in the environments that they take space in a place where they can truly live their lives without having a fear looming over them because like the thousands of women trying to bring awareness to themselves i'm tired and i just want to see change the accounts of woman violence is not just the tv shows or the movies they're not fiction they're real with real people and real
052consequences so let's treat it as such thank you [Applause] and now from gilbert high school kyra warren [Applause] imagine you're in high school you're keeping your grades up maybe working a job on the side but you're also struggling inside your own head you constantly feel like the world is resting on your shoulders you feel hopeless worthless messed up so what do you do well obviously you'd want to confess these feelings to your parents but when you tell them this they don't listen to you no no because you're too young sound a little familiar whether you are on the giving or receiving end of this the point stands that mental health among teenagers is often overlooked my name is kiera warren and i'm here to talk to you all today about mental health in high school
053why is it that we ignore these kids according to the cdc one in three high schoolers experience feelings of overwhelming sadness or hopelessness that's a lot of kids to just feel a bit blue right well one in five have a diagnosable emotional behavioral or mental health disorder and half of those kids have a problem so severe that it impairs their normal functions things like waking up on time having motivation to do work making friends or paying attention the recognition of these disorders or illnesses isn't shameful it's quite the opposite with 80 percent of all students not receiving the proper care that they need it is more important than ever to bring these kids that care instead of to pretend that they're doing it for attention let me tell you all a story at my first
054high school i started to discover these problems about myself i didn't feel like i fit in with the rest of the kids i wasn't normal something was wrong half the time i didn't have the motivation to get out of bed in the morning my friends there they were all the same as me none of us were normal and that's okay we were coming to terms with that but after the quarantine period the school wanted to help but their help wasn't helpful they kept repeating the same stuff over and over thinking they were doing us a favor just cheer up just breathe just hold it in just don't let it show just keep those grades up just smile just ignore it just pretend that you're fine they didn't see the numerous kids who weren't okay they
055saw us as a letter if you didn't have perfect grades you were tossed schools tend to stigmatize these disorders and make them seem like something lesser than it truly is but this all ties back to the important question what can you do or what can i do what can any of us do most of us don't have the power to change this on a large scale but it's important to start small the main thing that we can do as a society is to normalize mental health talk to people and check in with them make sure they're doing okay your family colleagues friends anyone who you feel comfortable talking to normalizing and acknowledging that people have mental health problems is the first step to a better world a world where someone like me can come to
056their parents guardians teachers without the fear of reprimanding that is the key to the better world of mental health acceptance thank you [Applause] so and now from lawera high school samantha marroquin [Applause] this is a big crowd by show hands how many of you have ever gone sick or injured yeah now keep them up if you have gone to a doctor or gotten any medication that your insurance paid now look around you that's a lot of hints oh put them down what would now tell me what would happen if you didn't have medical insurance then the cost of that visit or medication would come out of your pocket one of my family members is sick but not in the way that could be resolved with cough syrup he struggles with drug addiction and mental health
057issues thankfully we have the insurance to cover drug rehabilitation and therapy but not everyone has this luxury according to advocate a platform promoting accessible mental health resources effective therapy can cost at least 120 per hour some places that offer low cost mental health resources are not as effective at handling mental illnesses as the ones are more costly the outcomes that determine a person's well-being are called social determinants of health which are caused by social conditions such as family income access to medical care or even access to education i am worried that the students across anaheim that are facing similar situations are unable to obtain the help they need for their loved ones or even themselves because of such high cost treatments according to orange county's 2019 report it found that one in six children are
058currently facing poverty and mental health hospitalization rates grew 87 in the last 10 years now this is a problem because people have different access to medical care safe housing transportation but not everyone can obtain these things a person's life expectancy and well-being should not be determined by their zip code or access to universal health care orange county has implemented changes in order to fix these issues these focus on inclusivity equity comprehensiveness collaboration and multi-dimension but we as students can do something we have a choice we can either sit idly by and continue to watch these social health determinants affect children like us or we can do something by volunteering at local organizations or even supporting an advocate actively supporting awareness of these social determinants of health which i believe that we must do thank you
059[Applause] so and now from oxford academy melissa rentana [Applause] for every victim of domestic violence that receives support and shelter 15 to 20 women are turned away from the shelter domestic violence is a concept that no one is a stranger to yet it is constantly overlooked in our families and it is grossly underreported in the justice system sadly one in three women and one in four men will experience some type of abuse in their relationship quarantine was a time where victims could no longer escape their abusers pre-pandemic many victims and their families would use school and work as an excuse to leave the oppressive household that they lived in but when quarantine started that was no longer an option they were now locked in with their abusers full time for 24 hours a day during
060quarantine in the united states intimate violence rose anywhere from six to twenty one percent domestic violence does not always leave physical marks but it always inflicts damage on a person's psyche no one should go home in fear that they will be abused at night perhaps so many women especially women of color would not go missing because they said no people deserve a place where they can live happily and safely that is the legitimate goal of a great society now how can we help stay connected and informed by sharing resources such as the national domestic violence hotline or even local resources such as laura's house and the orange county family justice center you may be able to connect a person who is struggling then use your voice to advocate advocate for those who cannot it is
061never easy to ask for help especially for victims who feel like they have no control within the situation so if you see something speak up and speak out for speaking up and speaking out you could save a life violence is never the answer and anger is not an excuse to abuse someone so change a life by speaking up thank you [Applause] from magnolia high school leticia alvarado franco [Applause] up at the mirror oh sorry looking up at the mirror she knew she committed the unspeakable error of a glance in swift motion she grabs her sides pitches out her thighs fits her nails into the corroding scratches on her arm so she could feel the droplets of tears flow until they crashed down onto the bedsheets coming to her mind now our current generation well we've
062grown up a technology in our hands exposed to a world that perhaps wasn't the best for our own sakes posts on these platforms planting seeds in the minds of elementary school-aged children in fact the center for discovery has reported that these companies spend over 17 billion dollars on marketing young audiences each year and the broadness of social media has permitted for such beauty campaigns to be pushed out into the screens of these malleable viewers feeding children the message that beauty can only be beauty if it fits the definition that social media is projecting beauty to them means six packs prominent muscles beauty to them means thin hourglass figures beauty to them means full lips with the most defined of jawlines beauty to them means everything we're not conveniently enough social media also seems to provide
063the fixes to all the issues they've decided we have fingertips swiping up to reveal the latest tips on how to lose fat fast a cookbook guide for only 29.99 let's not forget the promo codes now all promising us the satisfaction of having the same gorgeous figure as the one slapped on the cover of the advertisement children who mind you have limited control over their body shapes are now bred into the mindset that this standard is the only acceptable shape and nothing else research conducted by the park nicolette melrose center has determined that 78 of girls between the ages of 13 and 17 believe that their bodies are simply unfit and this 78 is either accurate risk of or have already developed eating disorders and other forms of mental illnesses further studies conducted by bradley hospital
064in rhode island a leader in mental health care for children has concluded that adolescents with negative body images are more prone to suffer from depression anxiety or even be driven to suicide and that same girl we heard from in the beginning well you're looking at her and to all this she's no stranger i was told you're going to overdo it it's not healthy yet it was undeniable that little surge of hope pleasure even and hearing i looked sick it took the intervention of doctors to take back control of my life for i'd lost sight of the fact that my health and the health of those around me wasn't worth it in knowing the truth will we continue to perpetuate this standard wouldn't we like to live in a world where children are no longer ridden
065of their lives we can all begin to undo the messages that so many have internalized by reading from our phones and our lives the torment that these applications bring and for once begin to live our lives by our own definitions in finding our voices we stomp on the thoughts and come to find that beauty is so much more than just a standard thank you so from savannah high school halima asari [Applause] did you know that 95 of teenagers have access to a smartphone how many of those teens have social media apps like instagram tick tock and snapchat being able to message friends and stay updated with current events is useful but there are some negative downsides to having it right at your fingertips which brings up a very important question to consider how is something
066as innovative as social media affecting the mental health of our youth hello my name is halima asari the connection between adolescence obsession with social media and poor mental health is fully supported by the evidence in may 2018 the pew research center found that 45 of teens admitted they were constantly checking social media platforms with quarantine teenagers with quarantine teenagers are on their phones now more than ever which could affect their mood attention span and overall awareness in january 2017 the american psychiatric association reported that people using more than seven social media platforms had three times the chance of experiencing depression and anxiety than those who use less than two the amount of time a teenager spends on social media is not the only contributing factor a teenage student jada bromberg was interviewed by wusa9 news
067about how social media had affected her life saying that at first most of her online interactions were positive but it soon started to feel like the opposite she said i felt the negative impacts of it because i was looking at people hanging out with friends and i was not always being invited i started to feel sad when i was alone at home jada began to isolate herself which led to self-harm and depression but instead of keeping her story to herself she decided to spread awareness and used her experience to help those in similar situations people like jada who genuinely want to make a positive impact are helping to rebuild social media to a place where everyone can feel welcomed if social media were like that teenagers would feel less anxious seeing that not everything online
068reflects how the world really is so what's the answer parents can set a time limit and supervise their children's use of digital devices and teens can set an ideal schedule for themselves to prevent spending more time on social media more and more teenagers are getting hurt meaning we should work through this matter in a team effort thank you [Applause] so from western high school nicole batres [Applause] hi good evening um raise your hand here if you're a parent well a lot of parents um now today i was supposed to talk about food insecurities but i'm not i'm going to be talking about the injustice that i had to grow up with and many of my friends had to go through this injustice is no one listening to us not our voices our voice is not
069being heard now a little bit by myself i am someone who has been hospitalized twice for suicide and yeah hi um and in the hospitals there were a lot of people who who thought like me that this is all in my head what am i doing here i'm sorry i shouldn't have done this and then there's people out there saying hey it's fine it's not in your head all right it isn't your fault whatever happened to you isn't your fault now what my what my friends told me in the hospital said there are two solutions for you you either wait until the very ends of your days and for your prince charming or superhero or whatever the heck you're into to save you or you could grow up get your head on the clouds and
070forgive yourself for something you didn't do and go on with your life now for some of my friends that wasn't the case i had a friend who i met in the hospital he had an abusive father his mom wasn't really there because she was working and the only one who took care of him was his brother he was in there because of course suicide he was said to be a juvenile just because the way he dressed the way he acted he yeah he did some bad stuff but what could he do no one would give him a chance just because of appearance to say like hey like what's up like you look like you do bad stuff why don't you come work with me in my luxurious house yeah no people teachers he told me
071the teacher said you know what you're not listening you are not listening while i am trying to do my job you get out i don't want to hear it get out you don't want to grow up go be a kid outside the class that wasn't fair no one listened to his story that his dad was an alcoholic no one listened to him so when he got out it was the same nothing changed not his brother's love could save him he overdosed not on medication but on drugs his father had this happened once to me to one of my friends because no one was listening no one would give him a chance and that hurts because i was one of those people no one wanted to hear me and that is an injustice for not just
072kids dogs little kids ages four to six adults to 85 to 50. these people are mothers fathers sisters brothers uncles aunts nobody is paying attention to them because they're saying you are doing this you're hurting me you think i want to see you like this no i left my life for you and you're acting like the world is looking upon you you're acting like you're in the crazy one while i'm here working my ass off for you oh sweet child of mine you know nothing you're still a child you don't know what it's like to pay taxes filled you do not know the pain of an adult let me tell you i don't know the pain of being an adult but i do know the pain of life life yes it could be beautiful but
073can also show you the things that you parents didn't want to see your children go through you parents didn't want your kids just to see how someone put injects a needle in them and gets high you didn't want your kids to see another person beating up another innocent person you parents didn't want your kid to be corrupted by the reality of truth the ugly truth you wanted them to be safe in a beautiful lie i am one of those people who was saved was not saved by the beautiful lie and my friends who have died wasn't either i'm sorry for being making you sad but that is the truth thank you for listening to me have a good night [Applause] i mentioned earlier that the number one fear that most people have is speaking in
074front of an audience and you can only imagine what it must be like to come up and speak with the lights and the microphone to to speak about something so personal and so so meaningful and to share that with everyone and that's the joy and that's the beauty of the mikvah challenge that we are able to share our voices thank you nicole our final high school speaker is from catella high school alana excuse me from catella high school alanis vieira [Applause] what are insecurities many people boys and girls have things about themselves that they don't like and wish they could change it can be anything from your hair your height your way or an action i personally connect to this topic because i have been an insecure person for a very long time and i'm
075still learning to overcome these insecurities as i get older something that i have been insecure about all of my life is my height i was told things like alanis you're so tiny or oh you're so cute you're so small and although these comments were probably not intentionally met in a mean way it still did mess with my mind i started getting into hair makeup and fashion so i could make myself look older to compensate for the youthful appearance my height creates i was even offered steroids as a kid but my parents refused and i had always wondered why they didn't let me do it because i just wanted to be like everyone else i realize now that being small is something that makes me me and i want others to understand that they can look
076at their insecurities and think the same way so how can we observe our insecurities and learn to embrace them and grow confident from them insecurities are in everyone studies show that 13 to 17 year olds are considered the most insecure that's us everyone especially teenagers in high school face insecurities that can affect them and can even affect the people around them and even their actions i decided to interview a football player at my school who is actually very confident but he claims it didn't come so easy he explained i wasn't naturally confident i can definitely say that i was insecure about my looks and my hair and my confidence was just really low and i wasn't really good at talking to anybody but over time when i started appreciating myself more than others would i
077began to come with that confidence and just gain more confidence overall his best advice was to boost yourself for your confidence a good thing to do is when you wake up and you get ready you go in the mirror and look at yourself and look and say i look good he said that was a big thing for him to boost his confidence because if you can't live yourself who's gonna love you he lastly shared if i didn't overcome my insecurities i don't think i would be as influential today his advice is very inspiring and even shows me as an insecure person that i can grow confidence from my insecurities and learn to love myself now why does this matter this matters because it is something that we face every day insecurities do exist and it
078is possible to go past them by journaling challenging your negative thoughts and surrounding yourself with positive people who encourage your self-love journey even if you're someone who has been able to grow past their insecurities it is still important to be aware of this topic and be careful with what you say to others because you never know if someone is struggling with their own personal insecurities if we don't start to try to fix this now while we're young it can lead to serious consequences in the future that can affect our future careers or our future relationships if we could erase all the insecurities in this world we would be able to pursue our passions and dreams and live life to its fullest fullest extent everyone is beautiful in their own way so let's embrace the unique
079lift each other up and let's overcome our insecurities together [Applause] let's give a round of applause to our high school speakers [Music] my husband is a playwright and he has participated here in the district many times giving playwriting classes and at the end of the day he'll come home and say oh my gosh the teenage angst all they do is complain and their family and oh my gosh we didn't hear any of that tonight we heard intelligent insightful beautiful stories given with passion and bravery and courage and i think that i think that we're in good hands with this next generation don't you agree can't wait to go home and tell my husband what i heard tonight we do need a few moments to tabulate our points so during this time uh before we give
080out the awards for third second and first for junior high and high school i'd like to give our judges and in mikvah we call them the youth voice champions i'd like to give them an opportunity to express their opinion on some of the speeches that they heard tonight and just in general what did you see what did you enjoy what touched you what's going to be memorable what are you going to tell your spouse when you go home tonight mr colon can we start with you absolutely thank you first of all thank you so much for having us and thank you for inviting me to be a judge i think it was again inspirational um first of all i want to tell all the students you guys were magnificent i got chills and every single
081one of you as you came up your ability to speak to speak clearly to speak with conviction to know exactly why you have chosen that topic was amazing again i think that for for us as judges it's going to be hard but i want to just tell you how very proud i am of of every single one of you um i was sharing before this started i would have never have been able to get up on the stage and be able to speak the way you guys did so again congratulations i think every single one of you did amazing uh and inspired us not only because of your skills but because of your passion for for for your topic so thank you very much [Applause] renee green the ceo of mikvah challenge i i do
082want to echo again to all of the young people echo the exact same comments i hope that you're really proud of yourselves i would i watched each of you as you guys some people like sighed before and i was like all right come on you can do this some of you as soon as you were done you were like oh like either i nailed it or i was really really nervous i speak for a living a big part of my job is to travel around the country and talk to people about mcfa challenge and i got started and got really comfortable because i had to give speeches at a really early age you know we were the easter speech at church i don't know if the other people had to do that you had to
083go up at three or four years old memorize your lines and say them my fifth grade teacher emma brown i still remember that entered me into contest after contest and got really really confident and so as i was watching you all i was like they are ready they are ready some of you stepped up on the stage i felt the confidence as you walked across the room others of you got more and more comfortable as you spoke and some of you were just relieved when it was over but you did it no one walked away and said i can't do this anymore no one stopped mid-speech that's why at mikvah a lot of times we'll snap it up or we'll say go on you can do it but just the fact that you got up
084here that you spoke again these are skills these are skills that adults don't always have they're really really anxious about and you all are way ahead of the game so just want to congratulate you again i travel across the country to events like this i was blown away here i was blown away with the poise the presence the confidence and the content one thing i will say and i always say this to adults let's look at the topics that our young people have chosen one thing we pride ourselves in mikva is that we don't give you the topics not to knock other curricula but we're we don't say here is what you need to talk about we ask you what's the most important issue to you and to the young lady who said adults don't
085listen they don't hear me i'm going to echo we need to make sure that we're listening i heard mental health a lot of that i heard insecurities a lot of that my short-term memory is poor so i don't remember everything that was was on the list but i do like to go over this because i do want to make sure knowing that we have school leaders in the room superintendents in the room people who can help make change and that's important i'm a former school guidance counselor i know that students need to be heard it's important to be heard and just want you if you haven't students are worried about social media the influence that they have they're worried about their own self-esteem so what are we as adults and decision makers doing about the
086issues that young people have amplified for us that's our call to action you all have said these are the things that are most important to us you all are taking steps to drive change you've given us calls to action and it is our job as adults and my job as ceo of mikva to amplify these issues nationally we actually have some students talking to the department of education next week to say these are the things that are most important to us and these are the changes that we need to see in our cities in our region so i thank you for the invitation to come and again each of you young people i wanted to give a hug for different reasons afterwards so there's a big hug for me congratulations but also keep talking and
087we'll keep listening rita ray our human resources well first of all i want to say to all of the speakers congratulations you guys are all winners your champions your role models what you got up here and did tonight was way beyond impressive i know it took a lot of courage um i could tell how well prepared each and every one of you were to give your speech and i just want to commend you on how well you did this evening and i was also impressed by the vast range of topics that are on the minds of our young people these topics were deep they were thought provoking and the way you expressed yourselves and the way you talked about your topic was truly inspiring so i just want to say congratulations to each speaker that
088was on the stage tonight and in my opinion you're all winners [Applause] and mike switzer the ela curriculum specialist congratulations um all the students out there your your presentations your soapbox speeches were fantastic tonight you should be incredibly proud of everything that you did and all that you have accomplished they were beautiful they were strong they were powerful they had great magnitude probably more than you realize right now parents teachers coaches anyone who had a hand in it congratulations to you i taught english for 18 years and i used to say to my students writing is a process of making decisions and when you write something when you write a two-minute speech there are hundreds and hundreds of decisions that you're making while you're writing that speech what should my first line be should it
089be a question should there be a story what pronouns do i use do i use the second person pronoun do i use a collective third-person pronoun students all of your decisions were perfect you did such a great job we are so proud of you in auhsd well we are nearing the end of our event i am going to announce the award winners for third second and first for junior high and then for high school then i'd like to invite our superintendent mike mitsuda up for some final words and then if all of our speakers could come up to the stage for pictures and we have a wonderful mikvah challenge t-shirt to give to you to to wear proudly to remind yourself of what a terrific job you did this evening to help me with the
090awards tonight may i ask our board members to come up and marie randall trejo anna piercy and brian o'neal [Applause] and i did not realize that al jabar was in the house yay [Applause] i don't envy our judges i'm glad i'm up here experiencing my number one fear of speaking in front of an audience our third place junior high school winner receiving the trophy is ava martin from walker [Applause] is in second place from oxford academy nathan pereira congratulations and the first place trophy for junior high goes to ella's cd muhammad from dale junior high [Laughter] that's okay he could come she's up [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] wonderful [Laughter] come back next year and you'll see him on stage terrific my junior high winners if you'll please take your seats we'll have you back up for
091pictures in the high school level third place from anaheim ilc cassandra almeida [Applause] second place trophy goes to alanis vieira from catella high school [Applause] and first place goes to rebecca cho from cypress high school yes [Applause] uh so exciting to see these speakers come on down you'll come up in a moment for more pictures and to close out our evening if i could ask our superintendent to join me on stage for a few moments [Applause] hey let's give it up for miss autumn brown or mc tonight i'd also like to acknowledge our principals and our administrators in the back there you know one of my all-time favorite musicals is hamilton the story of our american democracy and it's really a story of having a voice in government it's being heard by our leaders and
092that's when it came right down to it that's why our founding fathers decided to reveal rebel because they were not having a voice and they created this 250-year old experiment called democracy and arguably our democracy is under threat but tonight what we saw was the development of leaders of student voices of young people who have the capacity to express themselves about the many issues affecting them and all of americans one of my favorite songs in hamilton is the room where it happened where aaron burr laments that he's not invited to that room where the great conference compromise was made between hamilton and jefferson tonight our students spoke in the room where it is happening and that deserves a big round of applause i think all of us adults learned a lot from you in fact
093i had coffee with a colleague and friend of mine dr barry from south carolina who's studying education and teacher effectiveness and we had a nice conversation about how teachers teach but really the best teachers and you're seeing them here in this room are also learners we adults tonight have learned so much from our children and our students and it gives us all hope and optimism for the future not only of auhsd not only of orange county but for the future of this country thank you and congratulations to you all thank you mr mitsuda well that is our presentation for the evening i don't miss being in the classroom but i do miss students and tonight was such a joy for me and i hope you enjoyed yourselves as well all of our speakers please come
094up for pictures and please come up for a t-shirt and we'll see you next year thank you so much happy speaking each one i was like okay we're here okay they're always the best [Music] you know what this is i've had so i was like i'm just gonna go in and out see the work but then make some plans