Summer is just around the corner and the time here at PJALS went by so quick. I remember the first day at PJALS as an intern I didn’t know what to expect. I was just excited about the thing we were working on, but I had no clue how to start. What I worked on in my time at PJALS was with the Young Activist Leaders Program (YALP), Truth in Recruitment and with the Spokane Police Accountability and Reform Coalition (SPARC).
YALP was the foundation in giving me the skills of organizing and activism. With YALP I learned many skills that will be useful in my near future as a leader. One of the workshops that I loved was learning about oppression and privilege, as well as the Activist in Residence workshops we attended with Sandy Williams. They both talked about the same things, just taught us in different ways.
It was nice to have other young folks who care about justice and peace. To have a place we can all come together and share our ideas was nice. We had workshops on running meetings, getting media attention, how to organize events, military, how to be an ally. This helped Jessica and me with our Truth in Recruitment project and to learn how to organize events and meetings.
With the Truth in Recruitment project we focused on Rogers High School students who are the main target of recruiters. Our Truth in Recruitment team gave these students points to consider before enlisting.
SPARC gave me the opportunity to see how our criminal justice system works and all the changes it needs in order to have a system that works with all types of people.
PJALS gave me a lot of learning experiences, from folding letters to organizing events, and I had so much fun.