2007 Youth Scholar — Kristen Liu, Bard High School Early College, New York, N.Y.

Kristen Liu

“We are confident that Kristen will continue her dynamic leadership and activism in civil liberties and the rights of young people through college and behind. She is dedicated to ensuring that all communities know their rights and shows maturity and intelligence far beyond her years.”
—Donna Lieberman,
Executive Director,
New York Civil Liberties Union

Learn about the other 2007 Youth Activist Scholarship winners > >

Kristen has spent the last three and half years as a dedicated leader in the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Teen Health Initiative (THI), an outreach program that promotes minors’ rights to access to healthcare. Kristen was the only freshman chosen to be a peer educator for the program, and has since helped develop a workshop, co-facilitated presentations to teens throughout New York City and met with state lawmakers to advocate for reproductive rights.

Kristen has also edited the THI newsletter, “Let’s Talk About,” which is sent to hundreds of youth organizations and schools. She works with fellow peer educators to craft articles educating and empowering youth in their own voices.

Kristen avidly follows developments in the legal and medical worlds, seeking out opportunities to improve conditions for residents of New York City and beyond.

Kristen hopes to become a lawyer.

Kristen’s Personal Essay:

For the past four years, I have been a peer educator at the Teen Health Initiative (THI), which is part of the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Rights Project. It has been the most illuminating experience of my life. THI helped me expand my horizons and strengthened my commitment to social justice.

Adolescence is a challenging time, when teenagers experiment and test their boundaries. Most teenagers are reluctant to share parts of their life with their parents even if they needed to access healthcare, whether reproductive, substance abuse or mental healthcare. Many others are afraid to with good reason. Therefore, many minors in New York do not receive necessary health services because they believe that they must involve their parents. Although New York State recognizes the need for teenager’s privacy, neither parents nor sexual education teachers educate minors on these rights. As a peer educator, I tell my peers about their significant freedom, including the ability to have ST1 tests or an abortion without their parent’s consent in New York.

At the beginning of THI. I applied because I wanted to help others, while learning about health care but I didn’t fully grasp our impact on teens’ lives. One of my first workshops was held at the Harvey Milk School. I was still nervous presenting but my anxiety soon evaporated. When we began to talk about their rights, they were so relieved and astonished. In asking questions about their own situations, it became clear how important the information we shared was in their lives. Throughout my first year, the other peer educators willingly answered my naïve questions, helping me learn to discuss controversial topics.

I return, year after year, because I have realized how important these rights are to teenagers. As a peer educator, I have the power to reach out to so many of my peers and improve out options by teaching them our rights.

Teenagers especially need peer educators now as our current administration funds only abstinence only programs for teenagers. When just one person understands and remembers the information, I know that my words will reach others, and as a part of THI, I have helped make a difference.

THI has expanded my ability to discuss a sensitive topic with my peers, while igniting my passion for sexual health care by introducing me to other important reproductive rights topics, like abortion rights and comprehensive sexual education for high school students. Now I have the tools to help friends and strangers in critical times. I am lucky to be a part of THI, to receive the sex education that most students do not, to have a place to comfortably and honestly discuss sex. THI has taught me the importance of our rights, which seem to be diminishing. After spending.more than three years with THI spreading knowledge, I am committed to defending our civil rights and hope to become a lawyer after graduating from college.