By Josh Choi
Staff Writer
University City’s Teen Council meets every month on a Friday from 4-6 p.m. at the North University Community Branch Library to volunteer and connect with the community and other clubs. Council members also bond by spending time together at the park.
University City Teen Council is a club that started this year in January. The club existed last year, but the seniors in charge of it graduated, so Junior Emmy Ibrahimovic and Sophomore Anastasia Shiryaeva became co-presidents this year and organized the logistics and purpose of the club. “We call the club University City Teen Council, because everybody from University City is encouraged to come. We have about seven members and two advisors who supervise. However, anybody is welcome to join and will be informed about the meeting dates on our Instagram, ucteencouncil, or [through] our website, ucteencouncil.weebly.com,” said Ibrahimovic.
“At each meeting, food is provided by the Friends of the North University City Library Branch. We have offered pizza, sandwiches, salads and even ice cream to celebrate the end of finals. At our meeting on Friday, April 22 we only provided vegetarian food in honor of Earth Day. We encouraged everybody to come to this meeting: siblings, students, friends, teachers and parents, and we showed a free movie that we believed could transform their lives,” said Ibrahimovic.
“The motto of this club is ‘Serve, Grow and Connect.’ We hope to collaborate with other clubs to join service projects or to initiate some of our own. For example, at a viola concert that was held in the North University City Library, we made signs to place on our necks that read, ‘Recycle paper, plastic, metal and glass,’ with recycling bins next to us,” said Ibrahimovic.
“As far as the ‘Grow’ aspect is our motto during the meetings, we talk about our goals and our sources of happiness. We support each other and commend each other’s passions. After the meeting, we usually spend about a half an hour bonding in the park, which is optional. We swing on the swings or the tire-swing, or play a game on the grass. The purpose of this is to be active after sitting down for two hours; we need to have a breath of fresh air and bond through the freedom of movement. Additionally, this allows us to connect: connect with ourselves and connect with the community,” explained Ibrahimovic.
“What is important to note is that our club is initiating two new projects. Recently, we have just started a newsletter, which will be released on our website, ucteencouncil.weebly.com, every month or two. When a newsletter is released, the public will be notified on our Instagram, so make sure to follow it to keep up with the updates. These articles in the newsletter are written by our very own members. Some topics include ‘Country of the Month’ … written by Anastasia, ‘Inspiration’ written by [Freshman] Ari Weizman, …and an advice column written by [Freshman] Neira Ibrahimovic. In fact, if you want advice, direct message ucteencouncil on Instagram or email us at ucteencouncil@gmail.com. We are hoping people read our newsletters, because we have worked really hard to create them. Through these newsletters, our main goal is to inform and inspire. Our next newsletter will be released in June,” said Ibrahimovic.