Dear Source:
I was so pleased that The Source has done at article on Malik Stevens. Malik is an impressive young man and represents the best of our teens here on St. John. His columns in Tradewinds are wonderful to read. Malik brings emotional awareness to all of the subjects that he writes about. I have been regularly touched by his openness and honesty especially in his personal and deep loss of his little brother in a truck accident. His ability to share these feelings with others truly demonstrates the greatness of this young man. Malik has taken a terrible personal family tragedy and decided to make himself into the type of personal who can make things better for others. This is the sign of a great person. His mother, I know, is incredibly proud of him.
I have the honor of working with Malik and four other native St. Johnian Teens–Hadiya Sewer, Zenobia Howe, Evanna Chinnery and Jessica Samuel–all teen members of the St John Youth Committee. They all offered their time and skills immediately when invited to participate in helping to identify Youth needs on St. John.
All of these young people are honest; articulate; intelligent and truly care about the future for youth. They have stood up to address the lack of Youth Programs and facilities on their Island through a great video that they made for our Governor so he could first hand see our Island's lack of resources for Youth. Watching their interactions with Gov. de Jongh in a January meeting and well as his to them made me hopeful for our future. Their skills in presenting their findings to The Rotary Club and in a town meeting last week clearing shows the incredible leadership abilities of these Youth.
So often we "judge" our Youth by the lost kids we see in Cruz Bay because we have little contact with these kind of Teens who are busy working, studying, and contributing to our Community. If these young people are any indication of the leadership of the future of our Virgin Islands, we have much to look forward to!
Bonny Corbeil
St. John
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