The 2024 Keystone Summit took place on Saturday, October 19th.
Nearly 150 teens from around Washington converged in Seattle for sessions on outreach, advocacy, leadership, and other dynamic teen topics. Featuring several keynote speakers, this year’s summit also highlighted a college fair and 16 workshops.
The summit opened with a warm welcome from Miss Washington, Hermona Girmay. Parfait Bassale, a DEI professional who has experience working with both adults and youth, gave the keynote address using a mix of narrative and original music.
Workshops focused on an array of topics such as college and career readiness, AI skill development, financial literacy, advocacy, leadership, Keystone Club support, VR college tours and other topics selected by teens and their advisors. A workshop favorite was a lively session by closing keynote speaker, Gregory Marks focusing on “The Purpose Behind Your Passion.” Teens also had a unique opportunity to use their voice to advocate for youth mental and behavioral health support strategies via a facilitated discussion with Washington Thrives and Full Frame Initiative, organizations working with Washington state legislative leaders to redefine the mental and behavioral health system for youth pre-natal to 25 years old.
Several Club teens were not only summit participants but also workshop facilitators. Four Keystone Clubs from Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula and King County led workshops for their peers. Youth also had the opportunity for fun downtime with each other by playing basketball and VR games, using the photobooth, and overall hanging out. Each attendant enjoyed a lunch of pizza and were given t-shirts with a unique Keystone Summit logo.
