Blog: Teen Outreach Program

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Angelique

About the blogger: Angelique is 17 years old and has been a Know Risks Peer Educator for about 17 months. She will graduate from high school in June 2014.

The Teen Outreach Program (TOP) is a community-based program created to educate teens on various topics and open them up to community service learning opportunities.

TOP is something that I will always hold on to. TOP wasn’t just a learning program that we attend two hours a week, but it was a fundamental learning experience. I can definitely say it helped me understand myself.

One lesson that stood out to me in TOP was about female leaders from the past and present. The TOP participants as a group identified the women we felt are role models for us now and who were role models for our elders. The women that were listed ranged from Rosa Parks to Michelle Obama. All the women listed possessed characteristics such as confidence, dedication and humbleness. Since women are sometimes considered inferior to men in today’s society, the activity gave us a different outlook on females. It helped us realize how valuable women are to society and how the world would change drastically without women.

As a TOP participant, we were required to complete a minimum of 20 community service learning hours. We made suggestions on places to earn our hours at, and reach the 20 hour goal. One memorable community service project was “Kitty Forts.” The Humane Society hosted this project. Its purpose was to create shelter for cats our of brown paper boxes. The TOP facilitators purchased 30 boxes and we used fabric and construction paper to decorate the boxes. We took the boxes to the Humane Society, and were able to see a tour with the animals.

Overall, TOP was a good experience, and is something that I’ll always remember and recommend to my peers. I will participate in TOP again this fall.

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