The National Organization for Youth Safety [NOYS] is an organization whose mission, according to their online website, is to build partnerships that save lives, prevent injuries and promote safe and healthy lifestyles among all youth while encouraging youth empowerment and leadership.

Junior Molly Eckelkamp was appointed the NOYS youth correspondent adviser over the summer and attended a trip to just outside of Washington D.C. to learn more about her new position.

“I learned a new set of leadership skills, which basically was a way to make the person that you’re talking to make decisions for themselves while not leading them to a decision,” Eckelkamp said.

NOYS is a nation-wide organization and Eckelkamp is responsible for communicating with a team from many places and organizing safety announcements.

“I correspond with the team across the United States. I have girls from Ohio and New York on my team, and basically what we do is we try to create PSAs or photo series to advocate for safety, such as no drinking and driving, no texting and driving, no doing drugs and general safety,” Eckelkamp said.

As a current and former member of Blue Jay Journal TV, Eckelkamp had done this type of PSA work before.

“I applied over the summer and I submitted some of the work I worked on for Blue Jay Journal, and they selected me,” Eckelkamp said. “I submitted a story on dabbing, which is a drug-related term that NOYS is trying to focus on. No drugs, no drinking and stuff like that is what NOYS focuses on.”

While it’s a lot of work, Eckelkamp takes her position seriously and is passionate about her topics.

“It’s definitely a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders, but I feel like I have the capabilities to lead a great team that will create work that really influences teens’ lives,” Eckelkamp said. “I [am] able to reach out to someone and touch someone’s heart with my work.”