Barnstable Youth Commission Takes Active Role

CCB MEDIA PHOTO Brendan Clark and Matthew Hersey of the Barnstable Youth Commission.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Brendan Clark and Matthew Hersey of the Barnstable Youth Commission.

HYANNIS – At a recent meeting of the Barnstable Town Council, as the hour passed 11 p.m., there were few spectators, mainly just town employees and a journalist.

But in the front row, as he is at every town council meeting, was Brendan Clark, the chairman of the Barnstable Youth Commission.

Though morning classes at Barnstable High School where Clark is a junior were due to start in a few short hours, he stayed for the entire four-plus-hour meeting.

With a keen interest in municipal government, Brendan leads a youth commission that has been taking a more active role in recent years.

The youth commission is different from Student Council, which is based at the high school and answers to the school committee. The commission, on the other hand, reports to the town council.

Barnstable Town Councilor Jennifer Cullum of Hyannis, the liaison between town council and the youth commission, said the commission can play a big role.

“Students can actually affect change through ordinances and really grab the attention of decision-makers in town, versus the people that control the schools only,” she said. “It’s kind of an interesting arm we have as a town council and a town.”

Last year, Sam Spillane was the leader of the youth commission and Brendan was very involved, Cullum said. She said she expects that activism will continue this year.

“I think we made some really positive strides and showed people exactly how much the youth commission can really affect our community and make some positive changes,” she said.

Brendan said he got involved in the commission while speaking passionately about a subject in the library. Some town officials overheard the conversation and invited him to join the commission.

He said he attends the town council as part of a liaison program the youth commission has put in place. One youth commissioner goes to the meetings of the Barnstable Recreation Commission and another goes to the meetings of the Barnstable Human Services Committee.

“We wanted to have youth commission contacts on other commissions,” Brendan said. “I kind of volunteered myself for a town council position because I really wanted to learn more about that and learn more about the process and decided to go to all the meetings.”

Brendan also holds an internship at Barnstable Town Hall, working in the office of procurement and risk management.

Matthew Hersey, another member of the youth commission, said he got involved in the commission when Cullum approached him and his father, former town councilor Michael Hersey, about the possibility of Matthew joining the committee to, as Matthew put it, “add a new perspective to it.”

Matthew, who is a sophomore this year, said, “I’ve really enjoyed it. I feel like it’s been a reasonably big part of my life and it’s been a big commitment.”

Perhaps the biggest project of the youth commission this year has been the Youth Summit, an event for seventh grade students that was held last winter at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center.

Brendan said a lot of credit for the event goes to Cullum for bringing the idea to the table.

“I think we all embraced the idea and we all embraced the idea of finding some way to help the students of Barnstable in a larger way. I think we really saw that as an opportunity to make a big comeback and reform what the commission had become. We took that opportunity and put it together,” Brendan said.

Cullum said the genesis of the Youth Summit was that at many of the boards and committees she sits on, the topic comes up about the health and well-being of the youth but young people never take part in the discussion.

“The real beginnings of this entire youth commission becoming strong again and navigating its way through our society is really based on the fact that we have no youthful voices at the table. So I wanted to create a group that had that power to really affect change for the better for their generation and for the generations to come,” Cullum said.

She said, if the summit becomes an annual event, each successive commission can have an affect on the young people coming into the high school.

“I thought it’s super important that kids talk to kids about things that they might find challenging in high school or eighth grade,” she said.

Matthew said of the event, “It was a really cool idea in our minds. We brought it to the seventh graders because we saw a lack of awareness in that demographic.”

He said the ninth graders have an activity called Challenge Day but by that point, they’ve already been at the high school for a year.

“If you can get to the seventh graders and give them that information and those tools, they’ll be much better prepared for their time at the high school, we feel,” Matthew said.

Brendan said the youth commission is definitely planning to have a second Youth Summit next year but may, perhaps, be looking for a change of venue and additional speakers.

“I think we really felt like we accomplished a lot and we got a lot of publicity for the commission and got a lot of good feedback,” he said. “It was definitely a source of pride for us.”

They may have even gotten some new members. The commission held a cook-out over the summer for students who may be interested in joining the group.

To listen to more from Brendan Clark and Matthew Hersey from the Barnstable Youth Commission and Barnstable Town Councilor Jennifer Cullum of Hyannis, click below.

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