Left to Right: Roland Martin, Angela Rye, Shevrin Jones and Jawan Strader will all appear at the 5th Annual South Florida Youth Summit.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DARRYL NOBLES

Staff Report

MIRAMAR, Fla. – The City of Miramar will join the 5th Annual South Florida Youth Summit (SFYS) to present the first Leaders In Training (L.I.T.) Youth Rally from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on May 19 at the Miramar Cultural Center, 2400 Civic Center Place in Miramar.

The high-energy leadership empowerment rally is designed to groom advocates and will include high school students who have been invited from around South Florida to join the empowerment experience.

Hosted by Papa Keith and featuring other DJs from 103.5 The Beat, the rally will be full of excitement.

The SFYS weekend is an annual program  created by LEAD Nation in partnership with the Knight Foundation. Held May 18-20, the sessions will be full of knowledge-based enrichment activities in an interactive setting.

The Summit is the brainchild of State Representative and L.E.A.D. Nation cofounder Shevrin Jones.

“We are excited about the 5th Annual South Florida Youth Summit. Looking at the direction of our nation and our communities, the time is now that we not only encourage our youth, but we empower them – empower them to do more and greater than they can imagine, to be the change they want to see (and) be,” said Jones.

The Summit will kick off this year with an adult only event, Cocktails & Conversations on May 18 at the Urban League of Broward County at 7:30 pm.

Cocktails & Conversations will be an evening when community leaders, educators, civic leaders and parents unite for an interactive discussion on empowering youth to be change agents in their communities.

The night will be moderated by anchor Jawan Strader of NBC 6, with guests Roland Martin (Host of TV One’s Daily Morning Show) and Angela Rye (CNN Political Commentator).

Summit Chairperson Kerline Jules said they will pull out all the stops this year.

“We are beyond excited! The South Florida Youth Summit will feature breakout sessions on various topics from STEM, Entrepreneurship, Financial Literacy (and) Goal-Setting to name a few. With the theme: ‘LEAD Now: Redefining Leadership in 2017,’ we want our summit attendees to walk out knowing that they have a voice and can be advocates in their circle of influence even in this young phase of their life.”

The weekend’s finale will be the actual South Florida Youth Summit on May 20 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Miami-Dade College North Campus, 11380 NW 27 Avenue in Miami.

Students will enjoy a full day featuring seminars, workshops and panel discussions and have the opportunity to become active participants in creating positive social change in their communities.