This summer, Bellevue Downtown Park was a prime location for live music, outdoor movies, and community get-togethers emphasizing family time and leisure activities. This appeal was no different for Bellevue High School seniors Sophie Kim and Ariel Kam as they saw an opportunity in the shared space to host an event to bring together the passionate and creative youth of King County.

 

With an increase in passion projects and a fear of rejection among the Bellevue youth, many teenagers steer clear from pursuing their ideas as they are typically not provided with enough support. Sophie and Ariel took advantage of this lack of representation by proposing a fair made up of teenage vendors and performers showcasing their projects. “Sophie and I realized that so many of our peers had amazing ideas and projects they were passionate about but no platform for sharing them and we wanted to change that,” Ariel commented.

 

Ariel and Sophie are a part of Be Bold Girls, a leadership program under the nonprofit, Be Bold for Change, that empowers female voices through events and workshops. Be Bold Girls strives to “build the confidence to lead, develop the skills to take initiative, and provide the opportunity and space to make a real impact in our community.” The Youth for Impact Fair demonstrates this exact sentiment. “Here we are, trying to demonstrate how we can make this mission real,” they say. 

What sparked the idea for the fair was a conversation with Bellevue Mayor Dr. Lynn Robinson about taking action. With the idea in hand, Ariel and Sophie proposed the Youth for Impact Fair at the Be Bold Girls Changemaker Challenge as part of their mission to “design the change you want to see”, and it was a hit among the organization. Now, with the support of the Be Bold for Change organization, in May, they moved on to proposing the fair to external connections like council member, Claire Sumadiwirya, who got them connected to the appropriate resources to turn their idea into something tangible.

 

From that proposal on, Sophie and Ariel started their planning. They were in charge of communications and were joined by two other prospective youth leaders: Bellevue High School Junior William Liu and Woodinville High School Junior Jerry Xu. Together they handled the interviews of each project committee member, eventually separating each member into one of three groups of outreach, coordination, and marketing and promotion. As a group, they “interviewed every booth participant, built systems to track applications, designed the event layout, created signage” and even handled more difficult logistics like applying for a city grant and a permit to use the Downtown Park space, a fire permit, and special event permit. They also searched and found sponsors for the fair like the Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue Community Programing Fund, Hungry Panda, and perhaps most importantly, the Emerald Parents Association (EmP) or the cohosts of the youth fair.

 

“We were very fortunate to secure support from EmP, who provided us with financial sponsorship and cohosting efforts to help support logistics and resources for this event,” Sophie and Ariel remarked. “Throughout the whole process of planning this event, we were able to learn so many professional skills such as writing concise, professional emails to ask for sponsorship and acquiring equipment and receiving confirmation. We also were able to feature on a Radio Station which was definitely a unique experience in itself.”

 

The team had coordinated and planned for 30 booths and vendors for the event but ended with a total of 44 booths and four performances for the fair day on July 17th. These vendors included businesses selling trinkets, organizations promoting services, and youth-led projects hoping to gain traction. 

“We could not believe the amount of people who applied and were interested in this idea,” they said. 

However, the stress and frenzy of planning and organization did not end until after the fair ended. On the day of, before the fair began, Sophie and Ariel’s team had to ensure all the gear and equipment was delivered to the correct areas and in time to set up. Additionally, they had to verify that the setup of the booths complied with the fire department’s standards. Despite the hecticness of setting up 44 booths in the Washington summer heat, "everything was prepared and ready by event kickoff time and the event began smoothly.”

 

Along with the booths and performances, local leaders like Bellevue Mayor Dr. Lynne Robinson, Councilmember Conrad Lee, Councilmember Claire Sumadiwirya, and the head of Be Bold for Change Nickie Smith, joined in on the fair. Two months of work culminated with one day in July, and Sophie and Ariel are proud of every second of it. In conclusion, they add, “We hope that this can inspire youth to take a chance and keep advocating for their passions and what they believe in, and to know that with hard work, something that starts as a small idea can grow into something so impactful.”