We are four youth from the teen council at the Bradford Teen Center, a nonprofit drop-in center for teens in rural Bradford, Vermont. We are raising funds for a trip to D.C. with the National Youth Leadership Council to the 2026 Points of Light Conference. We hope to go to D.C. and meet kids and adults with similar community-oriented mindsets as us to help expand our worldviews and better our abilities to represent the Bradford teenage community. This money would cover transportation, lodging, conference fees, and food for the teen council members and our chaperones.

As teens in Vermont, we have limited opportunities to engage with diverse youth communities or experience the world beyond our small, rural towns. All four of us have exhibited strong leadership skills and we are eager to explore where these skills can take us. This would be our first time taking a trip this far with the teen center, and for most of us, our first time in D.C.

As council members we often volunteer after school and on weekends for community events, such as Bradford's recent holiday market and the annual Globe Festival, and fundraising. Our responsibilities as a council include acting as a liaison between the teen center's teens, staff, and board of directors, planning teen trips and events, being leaders among our peers, and representing the center in our school and community.