Teenagers are great :)
I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy teenagers.
My first job right out of college was as a Youth Minister at St. Nicholas Parish in Gig Harbor. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole four years I worked and lived there, and much of the reason is because the kids were so great. Twenty years later, I still remember many of them by name, even though we didn’t stay in touch.
Since then and until recently, however, I haven’t had much reason to interact with high school students. Now that I am writing a book intended for a teenage audience, I decided that I had better immerse myself in the culture once again. So I recruited some 10th graders from Chief Sealth International High School in West Seattle to participate in a focus group to help me. We had our first meeting/discussion yesterday and I came away feeling incredibly energized and encouraged about the project. (The book is about the trauma and drama many people experience during their high school years.)
These kids are sharp, respectful, insightful and just generally pleasant to be around. I’m really grateful that they have agreed to work on this book with me; I know the finished product will be much better than it otherwise would have been. I don’t want to publish their full names without their permission, but they might choose to identify themselves.
Want to know more about the book I’m writing and how you can be in it? Here’s a modest website I created for anyone who is curious: http://home.comcast.net/~alicekuder/site/
