Express photo
by Willy Cook
Jessie Woodyard, 15, (left) and Marissa Evans, 13, were recognized
for their work with the Blaine County Youth Project when they were presented with a
proclamation of Youth Appreciation Month by the Blaine County Commissioners and the cities
of Bellevue, Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley. Woodyard and Evans have been making public
presentations at local government meetings as “asset builders”
promoting the Blaine County Youth Project.
Erin Hart, a project coordinator, said assets are those things needed by youth to become
responsible, caring and healthy adults. There are 40 assets or “building blocks of
healthy development,” she said, that were developed in a national survey by the
Search Institute in Minneapolis.
According to Hart, the asset apparently most lacking in Blaine County is the value adults
place on youth. Only one in five young people in the county believes they are valued by
adults, according to a study conducted two years ago. To help rectify that and to
recognize the girls’ work, Blaine County Commissioner Mary Ann Mix presented them
with the proclamation and thanked them for their work at a homecoming pep rally at Wood
River High School on Friday morning.
