National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC)

National Youth Leaders and National Staff at the 2008 Youth Leadership Initiative Training and Orientation Retreat

About the Council

The National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) is comprised of representatives from each of the regional councils. The NYLC brings together the various regions and helps make sure that each council knows exactly what the other councils are doing. The NYLC also serves as an advisory board to ensure that Roots & Shoots and the Jane Goodall Institute remain youth driven. Finally, the NYLC designs and helps to implement the Roots & Shoots National Youth Campaign.

Meet the Council

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 & Shoosequoia park zoots.

Chelsea
Hometown: Babylon, New York
Chelsea started a Roots & Shoots group at her high school in 2004, after learning about the program from the Jane Goodall Institute's website. Her all-time favorite projects are beach clean ups. She attends Hunter College.

Shanay, 2008-2009 Youth Leadership Fellow
Hometown: Ashland, Oregon
After having met Dr. Jane at the 2006 ChimpanZoo Conference in Los Angeles, Shanay was inspired to get involved with Roots & Shoots. For her senior project Shanay started a group at her high school. There she led the group in fundraising and planting trees for ReBirth the Earth: Trees for Tomorrow. In total they raised more than $1,500 (USD) and planted nearly 40 native trees on the Ashland High School campus. You can read more about her project in this local newspaper article. After her graduation Shanay traveled to Denia, Spain for a Rotary Youth Exchange. The Rotary Youth Exchange experience in Spain helped her hone her Spanish skills, as well as expand her view of the world while having some fun along the way. Shanay is very excited for the next year with Roots & Shoots and all that it holds.

Emily
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina
Emily first became interested in Roots & Shoots and the ChimpanZoo program at the age of 13, when she read Dr. Jane's book A Reason for Hope.. She's been involved with several R&S groups for the past five years and now runs a group with middle school students. Emily is a student at Warren Wilson College, studying conservation biology. She also plans to go to grad school to pursue a career in Primatology.

Ethan
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Ethan co-leads a Roots & Shoots Club that has helped out with a number of projects for his community, the most recent being a fundraiser for the Roots & Shoots campaign, Rebirth the Earth: Trees for Tomorrow, raising over $1,000 (USD). He has participated in many extracurricular activities at his school, including baseball, bowling, Red Cross, Key Cluband Netaid Global Citizen Corps. He has worked as an apprentice and intern at the Lincoln Park Zoo and has been a day camp counselor at a local park. He dreams of going to college and becoming a wildlife biologist.

Idessa
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Idessa is a 16-year-old 10th-grade student at Al Raby High School. She takes honors courses that challenge her intelligence, helping her to go further into life. She also participates in the academic decathlon.

Julie
Hometown: Bellaire, Texas                                                                        Julie is a junior in high school and a member of the Kinkaid School's Roots & Shoots group in Huston, Texas. She became involved in Roots & Shoots as a freshman when she had the opportunity to participate in a three-week school program, through which she participated in community service projects and learned about the issues being faced in her Huston community. Inspired by her beloved late biology teacher, Katherine Leathem, she joined the Roots & Shoots National Youth Leaders in the summer of 2007. Julie went on the Roots & Shoots Youth Leadership Immersion trip to Tanzania with the fellow Youth Leaders in the summer of 2008, which only strengthened love of helping the environment, animals, and the community. Julie is looking forward to contributing to and learning from Roots & Shoots and all its amazing members and staff.

Mitch
Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska
Mitch started a Roots & Shoots group at the Lincoln Public School's Science Focus Program and has involved the group in a number of projects from cleaning up of the Lincoln Children's Zoo to raising money for different Roots & Shoots campaigns. Mitch has been influential in brainstorming ideas for Discovery Communication's new channel called Planet Green. In his free time, Mitch enjoys training harbor seals at the Lincoln Children's Zoo.

Katia, 2008-2009 Graduate Fellow
Hometown: Pullman, Washington
Katia graduated from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington with a major in Zoology. She had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Jane on an airplane from LA to San Francisco in 2001. Wilie at WSU she worked up the ranks in various service organizations until she found herself leading her very own Roots & Shoots group.Their group completed countless projects over Katia's four years including working with the local Humane Society and supporting the Campus Climate Challenge. After graduating from WSU in December of 2007 Katia was selected to work with Ameri-Corps Vista at Palouse Discovery Science Center. She helped organize volunteers, plan educational activities, and developed plans for a nature walk. She even secured grant funds to pay for the entire nature walk! Katia is so excited to be working with Roots & Shoots on a new level and looks forward to the new experiences she'll have in the future.

Shawn Sweeney, Council Coordinator
Hometown: Elyria, Ohio
Shawn started a Roots & Shoots group at the College of Wooster in Ohio after seeing Dr. Jane on tour in 2004. One of his favorite projects was creating a nature-themed meditation room for students to use. Last year Shawn graduated with a degree in Psychology and plans to pursue graduate studies in Environmental Education. He has worked at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo where he completed his senior thesis studying visitors opinion regarding zoo animals and their lives in captivity.

Become a member of the NYLC today.

Here's how to apply!

Think you're ready to become a leader? Visit our Getting Involved page to learn more and download an application.

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