Mountain View High School sophomore Nikki Pritchard was honored March 1 at Project Cornerstone’s Asset Champions Breakfast.
Project Cornerstone, a regional non-profit dedicated to building a network of support around community youth, honored teens and adults who have contributed to youth programming.
Pritchard is a member of the city of Mountain View Youth Advisory Group (YAG), the city of Mountain View Public Library Teen Advisory Group (TAG) and the Santa Clara County Coalition Against Teen Tobacco (CATT). She participated in the 2005 Mayor’s Youth Conference and is vice president of her high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance.
“I think it’s important for young people to have a say in what happens in the city,” Pritchard said. “It is also key to have activities and places for youth to go to be safe and respected.”
More than 700 attendees, including Pritchard’s family and friends, celebrated the “asset champions” at the breakfast.
“My family never gets to see what I really do when I’m at my many meetings or events, so it was very special for them to be there,” Pritchard said. “It made me proud to be so involved in my community.”
” We know that from a developmental perspective, the values and influence of peers is paramount to teens. For this reason, the positive influence of teens like Nikki Pritchard can have an even greater impact than what youth service providers do,” said Nancy Vandenberg, Youth Resources Manager for Mountain View. She nominated Pritchard for the award.
Pritchard said that most adults she interacts with in the county are friendly and open to working with youth. “Sometimes it can be hard to connect with adults at first because you can seem so different from each other, but once a connection is made, there is no end to the accomplishments that two different perspectives can make,” she said.
Her newest venture, scheduled for this week, is a lobbying trip to Sacramento, where she and other students will discuss AB 606, a nondiscrimination bill for California public schools.
For more information about Project Cornerstone, visit www.projectcornerstone.org.
