By Tristan Maker, Roaring Fork High School, Carbondale, Colorado

Hello everyone, my name is Tristan Maker. For those of you who don’t know me, I am currently a senior at Roaring Fork High School located in Carbondale, Colorado, currently living out my senior year of high school through this exceedingly unique and unprecedented time in our lives. 
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As a result of the pandemic going on, my primary plans for my year academically, athletically, and socially have dramatically changed to where I can’t accurately predict and plan out obligations a week out. However, this has provided, not only myself but all of us a true chance to appreciate life and the fruits of life in the present tense rather than troubling over the harvests and hurricanes to come in later years. Gaining the intellect and the concepts of harsh realities, such as appreciating the time stamp we currently sit in has taught me lessons about how to live my life and how actions should be made. As Marty Rubin says, “water flows because it’s willing.” You have to be willing to make things happen, willing to create change for a better future!

By Laney Martens, Aspen High School student
This year I participated in the Youth Water Leadership Program on the Youth Water Leaders Team, helping lead our youth voices to speak in front of our community members and state representatives at the 2019 Healthy Rivers Youth Water Summit. The Summit allows students to communicate their research and concerns during an amazing opportunity to speak and talk to experts and other adults about current water issues.   

Surprisingly, Two years ago I, myself was one of these students and attended my first Healthy Rivers Youth Water Summit where I presented in front of my peers and other community representatives. This was my first step in becoming more interested in advocating for our watershed. Now, after being a member of the Youth Water Leaders Team, and helping organize and host the Summit I have a deeper respect and love for the opportunity that I have been given through this program.  ​

By Hadley Hiebert, Colorado Mountain College student
This year I served as the student intern for the Youth Water Leadership Program where I had the opportunity to help organize the 2019 Healthy Rivers Youth Water Summit. During this internship, I had the opportunity to have experiences that will benefit me for future jobs that I have not had during my schooling. Organizing and contacting people was one of the primary tasks of the semester internship. Through this process of coordinating people, I acquired skills that I can take into any field I go into, and I think will benefit me in the future. Learning how to organize people and events through spreadsheets is a tool I never thought I would need to use. I was sorely mistaken when I found out that was the most efficient way of organizing large quantities of information.

by Madeline Dean, Ross Montessori School student
Ever since I was born, I was outside and playing in the mud. My family made sure I didn't grow up surrounded by electronics so I knew what nature and the outdoors was really like. So when I found out about the Youth Water Leader Team I jumped in head first and applied.

When I was accepted into the Team I was actually a little nervous but I realized I had nothing to be nervous about throughout the semester. I experienced things I would have never thought I could possibly do such as the Ecoflight I went on, to look at our watersheds from above. I even found things in myself that I had not realized was even there. For example, when I went on stage at the Healthy Rivers Youth Water Summit in front of 130+ people and introduced the schools. I learned so much from the Youth Water Leadership Team and I will always be thankful for it.
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Madeline Dean is a 7th grader at Ross Montessori School in Carbondale, Colorado. 

​by Samantha Anderson, Roaring Fork High School student
I enjoyed my experience with the Youth Water Leaders Team during the fall of 2019 with the Youth Water Leadership Program. I got to work on my speaking skills, learn more about the place I live, and be part of hosting and organizing the Healthy Rivers Youth Water Summit. 

This program gave me many opportunities to do cool things, like go on an Ecoflight and get interviewed by a writer for a newspaper. I was able to share my opinions with important people, and learn even more about our watershed. Being part of this team also helped me grow as a learner, a community member, and as a person. As a learner, my knowledge was greatly expanded through this program. As a community member, I learned more about what is going on around me and how I can affect it. As a person, I realized that I have more power than I would have ever thought because of this program. My favorite part of being on this team was going on an Ecoflight. I loved seeing our valley from above. 

by Anna Moon, Roaring Fork High School student
​During this past fall semester I was a part of the 2019 Youth Water Leadership Team. This was a very cool experience for me. My favorite part was the Ecoflight we went on were we got to go on a flight over our whole watershed. It was cool to see where our water comes from and where it goes, from a different point of view. 

By Jenny Ellis, Aspen High School
As a sophomore chemistry student at Aspen High School, I am always getting opportunities to learn more about the world around me with my peers and how it relates to anything from brushing our teeth to major water systems in Colorado. This year I had the privilege of being able to work in a small group of my peers alongside Sarah Johnson of  Wild Rose Education and director of the Youth Water Leadership Program, focused on specific aspects of how to improve the quality of the Colorado River.