California Youth Leadership Council (CAYLC)

About the Council

The CAYLC spent the start of the school year supporting the many events that California hosted for Dr. Jane’s lecture tour. During the Day of Peace, held at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, the group gave speeches, interacted with local R&S groups and community organizations and helped in any way to set up the event. They played an integral role in the planning and implementation of this year’s Youth Summit which was held at the Marin Headlands in Sausalito, CA. Their current focus is coordinating a tree-planting event that will benefit those Californians affected by the wildfires and this would also tie into the national campaign of ReBirth the Earth .

Meet the Council

Simon
Hometown: Malibu, California
Simon is a member of the Zumers, one of California's most active Roots & Shoots groups. He is especially interested in animals and hopes to work with them for a living, possibly as a veterinarian. He is also dedicated to helping the human community and enjoys participating in Best Buddies, a club at his school through which special education kids are partnered with their peers in mainstream classes. As a part of the CAYLC, Simon hopes to connect Roots & Shoots groups with each other to collaborate on national projects and come up with new ideas together.

Bridget
Hometown: San Diego, California
Growing up next to the San Diego Wild Animal Park sparked Bridget's interest in animals and nature at a very young age. She brings leadership experience to the council and has used her skills to plan and implement service projects in the San Diego area as part of the SAVY Leader program. She serves as class president at her high school, leads the Escondido R&S group and plays for the volleyball team. Through the CAYLC, she hopes to create more ways for kids to make a difference in their communities.

Torri
Hometown: Jamul, California
Torri has been involved with the Rancho San Diego Roots & Shoots Club for two years. Her group recently built a greenhouse at her school for the students to study and record plant life. She has also helped plant, water and monitor Tecati Cypress Trees. These trees are the only place where the endangered Thorn Hair-streaked Butterfly larvae can pupate. She hopes to one day have a career in medicine.

Bryan

Hometown: Ventura, California
Bryan became involved in Roots & Shoots after traveling with other R&S youth leaders to Tanzania and is now the chairperson of the ReBirth the Earth: Trees for Tomorrow Campaign. Bryan is excited to give back to the Roots & Shoots program and wants to work on events, like R&S Day of Peace where groups can meet, exchange ideas and offer assistance to each other.

Keele
Hometown: Sacramento, California
Keele recently returned to Sacramento, California after a year living in Granada, Spain and is a sophomore at Sacramento Country Day School. She first became aware of Dr. Jane when she was helping to build a school in Kenya. She is passionate about the environment, especially global warming, and started a program at her school to measure the semi-fine particulate matter in the air. She also organized an interfaith tree planting at a local school.

Lacey
Hometown: El Cajon, California
Before she was accepted into the council, Lacy was active in the Rancho San Diego Roots & Shoots Club. She has organized a Peace Day for her community, helped conduct a five-year habitat study of endangered trees and built homes for barn owls who were displace in the 2003 wildfire.

Kai
Hometown: McKinleyville, California
Kai's interest in the natural world has been flourishing for many years. The local zoo helped expose him to animals from far and wide. He has been involved with Roots & Shoots for one year and helped found the Sequoia Park Zoo chapter in August, 2007. The chapter is now making an impact with the local community. Kai has volunteered with many political campaigns and local organizations, such as the California Native Plant Society and the local land trust. He is honored to be part of the council and Roots & Shoots.

I'm a member of the Zumers, and began working with them at a Peace Day Festival. I grew interested in the program after seeing how many causes they supported, and was fascinated by how involved the youth was in the program. Wanting to become a pediatrician, I enjoyed the idea of helping the local and global community through Roots & Shoots and now believe that I have the power to make a change in the world. I have begun work on the Rebirth the Earth: Trees for Tomorrow campaign, and worked on the Giant Peace Dove and Reusable Bag Campaign, as well as raised awareness for endangered animals of California. I hope to continue working with people from all communities of the world who share at least one common interest with me: to create a better world.
 

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