Maine student panelists and peers from Alaska and Oregon presented the Supporting Youth Leaders workshop at the 2024 League of Women Voters National Convention, held June 27-30 in Washington, D.C.

Alex Wu, 17, of Scarborough, Maya Eichorn, 19, of Kennebunk, and Lianna Holden, 18, of Lewiston, helped answer recruitment and retention questions, shared what LWVME’s Youth Council members do, how they address challenges and the larger impacts of their civic work with a 90-member audience, according to a news release from Allyson Gardner, director, Maine Students Vote.

“The panel was definitely fun,” Wu said. “It gave me ideas like bringing a motion to the next national convention to reduce the LMV Youth Council membership age requirement from 16 to 14 and up.”

“Our work in Maine is mostly youth led, so youth determine what we do, and recently it’s been a lot of advocacy at the State House,” Eichorn said.

She was particularly impressed by the different model the Alaskan panelists described.

“We learned about their programs within schools, including running mock elections throughout the school system,” Eichorn said. “What a great way to get kids involved in democracy at a young age.”

“We stayed 15 minutes longer to answer questions, so we know our presentation got other leagues interested in starting youth councils,” said Holden.

Wu will be a senior at Scarborough High School this fall. She was a LWVME intern sophomore year and co-founded its Youth Advocacy Team. She created a testimony writing workshop series that LWVME has used to train hundreds of students and she presented that workshop to Maine’s Department of Education.

Eichorn interned twice with LWVME and was Youth Council representative to the LWVME Board. At the convention, she was appointed to the LWVUS nominating committee. She attended Kennebunk High School and is a 2024 graduate of York County Community College. She will be a freshman at Emerson College in Boston this fall.

Holden is a 2024 graduate of Freeport High School and founded its Students Demand Action chapter in 2023. She interned twice with LWVME and co-founded its Youth Advocacy Team, which tracks bills of interest in the state legislature and gives testimonies. She was also a member of its Gun Safety Subcommittee. Holden will be a freshman at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., this fall.

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