But four years of involvement in MCFF’s youth organization, Youth Change Reaction (YCR), has helped me consider how I can have an impact, the role of youth in our community and what the word “community” really means.

If you asked me at age 14 when I first joined YCR what the word “community” stood for, I would have said a community simply consisted of people and buildings. Why? Because as a youth in McCook, I never felt we were listened to or respected. 

If you ask me now what a community looks like, I am going to smile and tell you, “McCook. McCook is the epitome of a community.” Why? Because as a youth in McCook, I feel like there are opportunities to be heard and respected. 

Over the past four years, I have learned so much as part of YCR and still strive to learn more. My biggest takeaway from this experience is this: youth matters in our community. 

Granted, youth don’t always make the best choices, but there are students who have a desire to make a change. The voices of youth matter. The ideas of youth matter. The feelings of youth matter. Without youth, our community would not be able to change and thrive. 

So Andy, I am finally prepared to answer your question: What can we do to bring our youth back to McCook? 

Listen

To bring youth back to our community, the community must have a passion for listening to the voices of the youth. From a youth’s perspective, we struggle to have our voices heard, to have our ideas accepted and to find the support it takes to come forward and speak out. 

Guide

To bring about change, the community must work with the youth who have a passion for change and help guide them to make progress in our community. These youth are the ones who will shape McCook. 

Our community will not always be the same. Businesses will open and businesses will close. Families will move in and families will move out. Friends will come and friends will go. But to leave McCook in good hands, community members must help train the youth of today to be the leaders of our community tomorrow. 

Accept and Embrace

So often I hear, “I don’t want to come back, because there is nothing to do here.” There is never going to be a perfect solution for this, but accepting and embracing the different youth of our community might start a change. 

McCook meets the lifestyles of families with parks, grocery stores, banks and civic organizations. But could you imagine how our community would grow and thrive if we had art centers for youth and adults? Perhaps an outdoor aquatic center that allows both older and younger youth to safely enjoy their summer days? How about a fun zone that allows small children to have after school resources and older youth to have an exciting place to meet with friends to play laser tag or jump in the trampoline park?

These projects are huge and would take years to accomplish but are possible if everyone worked together. It would also require the community embracing the different ideas and thoughts of the youth in our community. But that is what it will require to make future generations move back to their hometown. 

I could continue on and on with the needs of our youth, but none of this is new. Honesty, even with these suggestions, our youth might never see why McCook is so important or have a desire to come back. However, having a passion to listen to our youth and a desire to seek change will be the best first step anyone can take. 

I hope, desperately, the youth in our community can see how truly special and important our community is, but for now, I do - and so do my fellow YCR members. And that is a message we hope to spread. I may not be a big voice, but I am a voice on behalf of our youth. 

We are ready to speak, to be heard and to help make McCook an even better place to call home.