MIHS students make an impact at youth leadership summit

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Three Mercer Island High School (MIHS) students stepped into the spotlight at the recent King County Youth Leadership Summit and made impactful breakout-session presentations about the next youth commission and youth health and well-being.

Hosted by the King County Youth Bill of Rights Task Force on May 30 at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Islanders Alice Liang, Elijah Glowitz and Evie Pyeun received support during their sessions from Mercer Island Youth and Family Services (YFS) staffers Chris Harnish and Michelle Ritter.

Liang and Glowitz teamed up for their “Youth Advocacy and Community Through Youth Mental Health” session and Pyeun’s group delved into “Roadtrip! Our Journey Shaping the Next King County Youth Commission.” The students will all enter their junior years at MIHS this fall.

Harnish, a YFS mental health counselor at MIHS, noted: “Evie, Alice and Elijah bring a student voice to YFS’s programs and services. The Youth Matters group input helps us make sure we are meeting the needs of Island teens.”

As members of the Youth Matters advisory group, Liang and Pyeun gather with others to discuss topics crucial to local youth. Liang noted that the topics range from mental health to alcoholism and substance abuse to academic pressure and social cliques.

Added Ritter, who is the YFS coordinator for health promotion and prevention, about the locals attending the summit: “The King County Youth Leadership Summit provided an opportunity for MI students to share their experiences and ideas about youth health and well-being with other King County teens. Supporting and elevating youth voice is important to YFS’s work and Evie, Alice and Elijah’s efforts are making a real impact.”

In her report at the June 16 city council meeting, City Manager Jessi Bon said the city is proud of the trio’s participation at the summit that brought together about 300 people from ages 14-24.

During Liang and Glowitz’s session, they discussed the pressures youth face such as focus on grades and activities, low self-esteem, burnout, anxiety and more. Common resources they can reach out to include counselors, hotlines, therapists and online chats. Additional ways of getting or giving support include check-ins with friends, addressing differences in opinions, taking effective breaks and more.

“We focused a little bit more on the youth advocacy and a little less on the community part. We went over our goals, which was (to) effectively be able to encourage and inspire other people, especially kids,” said Glowitz, adding that they also addressed the unfortunate stigma around mental health. “We focus a little more on the getting support aspect. In terms of what I would recommend is just have an open mind, have an open heart.”

Glowitz hopes that after experiencing their breakout session, the attendees will take the information and place it in their personal lives and take it into the community to address the issues brought up in the session.

On the youth advocacy and mental health front, Glowitz said, “I think it’s personally pretty interesting” and he likes the aspect of enlightening people about the topics they touched upon at the summit.

Liang said that since the summit was based off the Youth Bill of Rights, they covered equity and social justice, community and belonging and youth voice.

“We also wanted to specifically focus on self-pressure, which is the pressure that a high-performing student can actually put on themselves,” Liang said.

She added that through the above scenario and other pressures that youth face, the duo incorporated seeking out peer support into its session.

“This could be through starting a club, having teacher interviews or interviews with someone who actually does mental health resources — connecting with mental health counselors,” she said. “I know that can be a big fear for students. So it’s basically just depending on peer support and creating those networks where you can feel supported and also comfortable enough to reach out.”

In Pyeun and her group’s breakout session, they spoke about the King County Youth Bill of Rights, the formation of the upcoming youth commission and more.

The Youth Bill of Rights features the following components: basic needs and well-being, health, education and learning, equity and social justice, safety and security, community and belonging, environment, transportation, youth voice and recreation and sports.

Following their session, attendees came forth to discuss the topics more in depth with the presenters.

“I honestly had not been expecting the audience to be so engaged, so it was a pleasant surprise when I saw how passionate everyone was,” said Pyeun, adding that she was joined in delivering the session by fellow members of the Youth Bill of Rights Task Force.

As part of the task force — which Pyeun learned of from Ritter — the MIHS student with an interest in public policy helped plan and design the summit.

“During the summit, we hoped to provide a platform for youth to become more civically engaged and become informed of an upcoming opportunity through the Youth Commission, which will allow select youth representatives to engage in decisions within King County policy directly with the executive and county officials,” Pyeun said.