Hello my name is George Luis Torres-Ortega. I am 19 years old. I was born and raised, here in the South Sacramento region. I am a Mexican-American with decent from Sonora and Michoacan, Mexico.

I am currently enrolled at Consumnes River College. I plan on attending California State University- Sacramento in the fall semester of 2016.

My passion is sports. Since I was a baby I’ve always had a ball at my feet or in my hands. I am a very active and competitive person in hopes, that one day, I could become a professional athlete. My favorite sport is soccer because of the immense passion of the fans and players. I currently play for Azteca FC that plays in the SFSFL in San Francisco.

I joined the Sac BHC in order to promote better, more active and healthier living in the community. Since I was born and raised in this region, I feel committed to be a more proactive member in the community and give back. I will be working as a member of the Sac Youth Media Team in order to voice pressing issues, events and success stories in our community. I am very excited to be working with an organization that serves and brings awareness to my community.

Stay Classy Sacramento! And Go Kings!

On Thursday July 16, 2015 I got a chance to go to Denver, Colorado; it was the best experience of my life it changed my way of thinking about a lot of things in general. The road trip was really long but we made it through the road trip by playing a lot of car games with each other. Our first stop was in Lake Tahoe; when I got to Lake Tahoe it was the greatest thing I ever saw because of the sunset. If you ever go on a family vacation you would go there and watch the sunset. It was still a long day so we didn’t stay long because there was too much driving to do. So it was the boring road again and long.

Once we reached Nevada it was a lot better but it was really dead when we got there because we went to Eureka, Nevada at nighttime. Once we hit the road and we hit the desert at nighttime it was great because we got to see a lot of stars, you don’t get to see the sky as clear when you are in Sacramento.

On our way to Denver from our stop in Nevada it seamed liked it was a short drive what made it worst was the traffic; our bodies were hurting because we were sitting for so long. Once we arrived to our destination, we all where happy and ready to absorb all the information and activities from the conference.

The next day was good so what happen was me and the other youth got together and we got to know each other more. Getting to know people from other states wasn’t so bad. I was kind of shy, but then I decided to come out of my shell and go talk to them it was pretty cool. We all shared about all of our experiences and how we all have difficulties in our local communities. I also shared with them about my work with Sac BHC Youth Media Team. They liked the idea of creating their own media team in their local community. Most of the youth have and want to share their stories so that others can learn and grow from them. I am so thankful for the opportunity to share my work and my passion for my community. During the conference I was put in a not so confortable place I had to do things that I would normally wont do. I was interacting with people that I had never met and that where strangers and suddenly we became friends in such a short time. I also learn that is ok to be out and share your personal experiences and be open to meeting new people. I usually don’t open up to new people because I am afraid, but this few days I really learned and have found a new way to interact with people. Our conference provided us with tools to interact with others and to be able to speak to new people and make sure that we get to know them before we judge. To be able to not hold any grudges or make enemies out of nowhere. This conference has made me realize that change is good and that I need to embrace it and join in. I will try my best to adjust to this new me and share with as many people that I can what an amazing opportunity I have.

So after we talk to all the people and got to know each other more for little while then we had to go home, our conference was over. We all said our good byes and then we came back home and the experience that we had the best it taught me a lot of leadership and showing people what they can improve or better their life more.

My name is Panhoia Lee and I was born and raised in North Sacramento. I am currently attending University of California, Davis majoring in Human Development and double minoring in Education and Communication. I am a student activist on campus and off campus. My passion is to promote Health and Higher Education. I love working with youth because I believe that children are the future and as a mentor to many youth I hope to guide them to become successful individuals. I want to promote Health and Higher Education in the community because I see that our community lacks the resources that can help us become healthy and or educated individuals. For example, our low-income schools probably lack resources such as books, materials, counselors, and teachers or in our community there are many fast food restaurants in comparison to our grocery stores. I think the best way to go about is to educate the community and find a solution.

I am glad to be part of Sacramento BHC because I get to see the many changes this organization has done and is continuing to serve the community. I hope to gain new insights of Sacramento BHC and bring awareness to communities that lack support.

Panhoia Lee

My name is Zitiah Shabazz; I am a 22 year old mother, business owner, and college student.. I am a part of the Sac BHC Youth Media Team, but my official title is television host. The show that I host is called Sac BHC in the Community, basically covering all and any events that are sponsored by Sac BHC. Currently I am a double majoring in Communications and Journalism at Sacramento City College. My summer 2015 project is about why I chose to make communications and journalism my career choice but more importantly what I intend to do with my degrees. My greatest dream is to host my very own television show on a major television network.

At the age of four I discovered that I communicate better through writing, and that I loved to do it. Discovering my love for words made me very advanced in school when it came to writing, English, and grammar lessons. I was always great at it, and my penmanship was so neat at such a young age, my teachers would tell my parents I needed to be in advanced classes. In the more challenging classes I would ace just about any and every writing assignment that was handed to me. I even won a school writing essay contest in the sixth grade. Words not only helped me at home with my family, but my skills were a gift for friends and family at birthdays and holidays, and writing is what has taken my dreams to the next level.

The more I developed in my writing skills, my skills with communicating also grew. I was able to talk about my feelings when needed in a constructive way and eventually became the local therapist for friends and family. Giving advice became my thing and I was good at it. A great communicator must also be a great listener, and a good writer must also be a good reader. This including knowing your audience and what would appeal to them; sometimes as a group, and sometimes as individuals. So in college, Communications and Journalism are not only my majors, but my passions. I was always good at both of these areas, but being in college, and being an intern with help me to become great.

In the future I want my television show to be involved with everything I have wanted to do in life. I want to make people laugh, I want to make them cry, and I want to give them hope. Revealing yourself to others can be a hard thing to do, but it can also save someone’s life. On my journey thus far I have discovered that it is okay to speak about bad circumstances IF in the end it is for a greater good. People want something, someone to relate to, and that means the good and the bad moments. No one is alone in their struggles, and no one should be alone during their periods of joy. I want my show to be just that. Something that small time people can feel big time about.

Since I am currently an undergraduate student studying Electrical and Electronics Engineering at California State University of Sacramento, I was asked by a professor to be a replacement in the UCCONNECT program. For the program, my professor proposed a project to be completed within eight weeks. This project will be replacing my current project to design a digital art.

After accepting the project, my professor, who is also my advisor, suggested that the project will be based on a intelligent traffic light control system that communicates with a cell phone, mostly Android. The purpose of the project is to be able to detect traffic and be able to send a text to a cell phone if it is busy. I will be using a series of infrared sensors to detect the traffic with a microcontroller for traffic detection and control. I will also be learning how to program in Java and creating an app for Androids. After this project, I will be traveling to Cal Poly Pomona for a symposium and presenting my project for a scholarship opportunity.

Please join me on this new adventure to complete my project.

Hello my name is Mhong Thao from the Sac BHC Youth Media Team I have been on the Sac BHC Youth Media Team for one year and three months. It’s amazing what I am doing now because it’s great and there is nothing better, then being a part of the media team.

For my  summer project I will be challenging myself to learn Spanish. I took a Spanish class last semester at Sacramento City College, and  I ended up failing because I couldn’t keep up with the class. Learning Spanish was easy at first but once we got to the harder parts it was a different story. It was like learning how to speak English again. I always wanted to communicate with people that spoke Spanish. I know how to greet people but when having a conversation it is more difficult. So now my goal for the end of the summer is to learn Spanish and once I learn the basic of Spanish. I want to learn Spanish so I can communicate better with people and so I can help them out more when they need help. So when a Spanish speaker speak to me then I can just guide them the help they really need.

Hi my name is Estefanie from Sac BHC Youth Media Team and this summer I decided to challenge myself to learn to cook more food from my Mexican American ethnic background. I’ve dabbled in the kitchen before but this summer I really want to throw my self headfirst in. The first dish I am going to learn to make is Green Chile-Chicken Enchiladas.

My mom Drusilla Reyes will be my cooking instructor. I’ve watched her cook nearly every night for my family and I for the last eighteen years, and I feel the urge now to learn more then I already do in the kitchen. This summer project betters my life in different ways, now that I am 18 and I will be going to college in the fall, I want to be able to cook for myself and not be completely dependent of my mom, or always have to go out to eat because I don’t know how to cook enough. Also my mom is also pregnant with my little brother (baby #2) and I feel this could be one of the last few bonding time we’ll get before she completely dedicates her time to the new baby. I’m excited to embark on this journey this summer, stay tuned for a visual presentation of my project.

Hi, my name is Cindy Chao and I have been with Sac BHC Youth Media Team since January 2015. During my junior year of high school, I took a graphic design class in which I learned how to use Adobe Photoshop. Since then, I rarely had time to develop and utilize my skills in Adobe Photoshop since I was balancing school, work, and all sorts.

For my summer project, I want to revisit and improve my Adobe Photoshop abilities and combine it with one of my favorite hobbies, gaming. I always had an interest in different types of games and their development and one day hope to work with a video game developer in the future. This summer, I got introduced to a game called Hero Siege from my friends and started my bonding time with them since I am usually focused on school during Fall and Spring.

I have always considered myself a better colorist than a sketch artist. So for this project, I will be using a two-step process. The first step consists me of me sketching what I envision on paper and scanning it onto the computer. From then on, the second step is to trace the picture and coloring it. I know this would be a long process since I have done similar projects to this, but I hope you will join me on this expedition and see how my project develops.

Hi my name is Justin Chao from the Sac BHC Youth Media Team and this summer I have embarked on a journey to challenge myself in learning the piano having started June 5, 2015. Last year I had an amazing time here that I am returning this summer to the Sac BHC Youth Media Team. When I was here last summer I met some amazing people and is so nice to reconnect with them.

Now let me tell you how I want to spend some of my time off this summer. Some challenges I have faced along the way in playing the piano is my finger width because I am used to keeping my fingers so close, that when spreading them out it is difficult to push the keys. Also, not being used to playing with two hands it is difficult for me to correspond my timing with both hands. But some pros to learning the piano that I have seen is that you can make any song you want with just a few keys. Also, with the right kind of piano you can produce beats off the keys that you press and save to make a new creation of sound and rhythm. Stay tuned for the next couple of months and I will be posting a video of my progress and what I have achieved so far.

Well, here you are. You’re done. You’re high school years are just about over. Think back it was just four years ago when we all where incoming freshmen into a new world called high school and it’s practically over now. We all couldn’t wait for the day when we “ruled the school” and that day has came and gone. The class of 2015 seniors ruling is coming to an end. We now are looking forward to Graduating in a week or so; it’s so close you can almost feel the light on your skin as you cross that stage in June. It’s been a long 12 years in the Sacramento City Unified School District, and most high school seniors are about to complete the first huge accomplishment of their life, graduating High School.

Some will venture off into college, some will jump right into the work force, some will even go risk their life to serve our country. In high school we stressed on getting homework done, studying for tests, keeping grades up, and fitting in. Now we have to worry about the real world, some will worry about bills, and getting to work on time, other will still be worrying about tests and homework but on a bigger scale. But no matter what life throws at us we can get through it with a little perseverance, so class of 2015 we toast to you as you get ready to embark on your journey though life.