Healthy Community Initiative

by Leo Sahlin as a Guest Columnist for the Northfield News

This fall marks the beginning of the fifth year I’ve been able to call Northfield home. I moved here from California as a seventh grader, and in the four years leading up to my current status as a high school junior, I’ve already made many amazing memories and had so many great experiences in this small town. Specifically, I’ve had the privilege of serving on the Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) board of directors for a little over a year, now as the co-vice chair. This experience has assisted me greatly in learning about a number of things — the community here in Northfield, the work and structure of nonprofit organizations, and the many opportunities our town offers to youth.

My position on the board of directors gives me valuable insight into the work HCI does for the community. During bimonthly board meetings, members of the staff at HCI often join to give guest presentations on projects HCI is working on. Thanks to these presentations, I’ve learned about the scale and impact of local community-oriented work. The statistics of HCI programs, especially TORCH (Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes) and Growing Up Healthy, leave no doubt about the positive impact made on the people of Northfield and Rice County. For me, this highlights the importance of these types of services and resources being available for a community — the amount of good done speaks to the need for assistance.

My experience as a member of HCI’s board of directors would not have been possible if not for Northfield’s Youth on Boards program. The program itself offers high school students the opportunity to serve as a youth member on city and nonprofit boards around Northfield, or even on the Mayor’s Youth Council. These opportunities are vital for young people — they give us the chance to share our opinions, help make decisions that may affect us and obtain experience in sophisticated, adult environments. Serving on a board teaches youth to look at and become aware of issues affecting the community, and it displays the work done by organizations that keeps Northfield properly functioning as a whole. The experience offered by serving on a board is hard to match — it’s public speaking, problem solving and college readiness all rolled into one.

HCI has done more for me than just teaching me about the needs of the community and the work done by a nonprofit organization. As a student less than two years away from college, I’m constantly being asked about my plans for the future. For now, I am still lost as to what I want to study and which college I want to attend. I’ve only got one thing clearly figured out — I want a job where I can help people directly. Observing the work HCI does is more than just interesting — it’s inspiring, and it has shown me an option for the type of career I might look for in my future.To learn more about HCI’s Youth on Boards program, visit northfieldyouth.org/youth-engagement.