Taylorsville Youth Council Adviser Kris Heineman – along with two of the council’s student leaders – will spend the next couple of weekends at Utah State University, for the final “big event” of the community service group’s year.

“I’ll be in Logan March 6 to 8 with our Youth Council Chair Bethany Dieckman and Emilee Taylor to help run the first weekend of the annual USU student leadership conference,” Heineman said. “Then we’ll return the following weekend with our entire group to participate in the conference’s second weekend.”

It’s a pilgrimage Heineman has been making with her Taylorsville Youth Council for years. But this time around, she admits, will be different – bittersweet.

“I’m retiring from Taylorsville City this summer, after working for them 15 years; so, this is my last year as Youth Council Adviser,” Heineman said. “Being their adviser is the part of the job I’ll miss most. This is, by far, the duty that sits in my heart. These are my kids. It will kill me to say goodbye. Youth Council members from years ago… I still hear from them. I miss them all.”

We’ll have more on Heineman’s retirement in a future story. For now, suffice it to say knowing she’s going is adding a little something to the Logan trips for her this year.

 Youth Council Chair Dieckman is anticipating the student leaders’ gathering for an altogether different reason. She, along with two other students from Bear River and Centerville, put together a 45-minute class for the leadership conference. That means their peers will be judging just how good they think it is – possibly a high schooler’s worst fear.

“It’s a little daunting creating a class a couple of hundred students will attend,” Dieckman confessed. “The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Grow Where You are Planted,” and our class is ‘Nourish Your Roots.’ As part of our exercise, the students will create vision boards about their hopes and plans for the future. I think it will go well – we’ll see.”

This month’s trek to Cache County comes about six weeks after the Taylorsville Youth Council’s last big event – another annual activity. But this year’s Day at the Legislature was unlike any the local students have attended in the past.

“I decided to ‘go rogue’ this year and it went very well,” Heineman said. “Every year until now, our group has been one of many participating in the official Day at the Legislature. That annual day involves hundreds of high school students and a fancy, banquet-style luncheon. This year we instead went up a week later. We were the only high school group in the Capitol this time around.”

Shedding the trappings of the mass gathering allowed Taylorsville Youth Council members to spend more time sitting in on a heated State House debate rather than simply parading through the chamber as they have in years past. The change also got the students out of their traditional ‘rubber chicken’ lunch – and into plates of pasta at The Old Spaghetti Factory after driving back to Taylorsville.

“This is my second year on Youth Council, so I got to attend the official Day at the Legislature last year and this year’s trip when we were the only students,” Dieckman said. “They were very different and I enjoyed them both. It was really nice this year to listen into the House debate. I believe most council members also liked this year’s spaghetti lunch more.”

Dieckman, by the way, plays cello for the Taylorsville High School orchestra and performed in the music pit during the school’s production of “Hello Dolly” last fall. The junior and National Honor Society member plans to enroll at either the University of Utah or BYU-Idaho in a little more than a year to begin studying to become a teacher.

“I enjoy the smaller activities Youth Council helps with, as well as the bigger events like visiting the State Capitol and attending the Utah State leadership conference,” Dieckman added. “I’m proud to help lay the wreaths at the Veterans’ graves. It’s also fun to hand out hot chocolate during the tree lighting ceremony at city hall. And we like helping out at Saturday with Santa.”

Following their trip to Logan, Taylorsville Youth Council members will finish up their service year by placing hundreds of pinwheels in the grass outside city hall as part of the Pinwheels for Prevention campaign, sponsored by Prevent Child Abuse America. That’s followed by appearances in a few summer parades and volunteer work during Taylorsville Dayzz.

Only one Taylorsville City Council member was able to join this year’s State Capitol trip. In fact, Bob Knudsen was the official van driver, transporting most of the students up there.

“I support the Taylorsville Youth Council because I believe the kids develop a great appreciation of what goes into government and community service,” he said. “The council allows the students to get to know local elected officials. And they help out with so many city activities.”

City Council Chairwoman Meredith Harker’s son Miles is in his second year on the youth council. And that’s after one of his older brothers, Mason, was a member of the group for three years.

“Some of these students have said they want to either become an elected official themselves or work in government in Washington, D.C.,” Harker said. “I love how they are learning about local government. I expect many of these kids to be our future leaders. And they also do so much service around our community.” 

As for Mayor Kristie Overson – she’s been assisting with the Taylorsville Youth Council just about as long as the soon-retiring Heineman. She knows the students’ next adviser has big shoes to fill.

“Kris has been such a wonderful adviser to these students,” Overson said. “The kids love her. It’s just such a sweet bond between them every year.”

Only one of the 21 members of this year’s Taylorsville Youth Council is a high school senior. The other 20 are all eligible to apply for the program again next school year. So, their adviser will be new – but the group of students may look largely the same. λ