Every second and fourth Wednesday of the month, middle school and high school teens from all over Antioch gather in a side room at the Antioch Water Park located on Lone Tree Way. 

Though they come from different schools– some public, some private – they all have one thing in common. They all are a part of the Antioch Council of Teens. 

According to the youth services manager Monserrat Cabral, the Antioch Council of Teens “is a group of California youth technically from sixth to 12th grade. Either from Antioch Unified School District or Antioch residents.” 

“Their main goal is to be more civically engaged and understand that their voice is powerful and how that looks like both in local government and federal,” Cabral said.

Antioch High School junior, 16-year-old Morelia Gil Cubillo has been a part of the program since her freshman year of high school. 

Gil Cubillo said she joined the ACT after her teacher suggested the program because “it’s right up your alley.” 

Gil Cubillo said she was attracted to the program because she loves helping her community, which is what had led her to joining the Antioch Key Club, a community service organization. 

“I really feel like if I were to join Antioch Council of Teens, I’d be able to have a larger voice especially for a lot of the students and a lot of youth that tend to be located in areas that were less privileged,” Gil Cubillo said. “I went to one of their meetings and I really enjoyed myself there. I felt like my ideas were being listened to.” 

The ACT is currently hosting a coat drive through the city where residents can donate warm coats, hats, scarves and gloves, according to Cabral.

Cabral said the teens created and decorated the boxes that are being used to accept donations. 

“The coat drive was an idea that started coming up as winter came,” Gil Cubillo said. “ So we were all thinking the holidays are coming, the cold weather is also approaching really fast. So what can we do to help the families out. Someone suggested why not a coat drive or a food drive – and we ended up doing both ideas.”

Program coordinator Maelvy Saucedo-Hinke said the number of teens and which teens tend to vary from meeting to meeting and that the teens come when they are able or they want to. 

“We want them to meet other youths within the city of Antioch because they all come from different schools,” Saucedo-Hinke said. “We want them to have that social aspect.” 

Charles Shaw, a 13-year-old student at Holy Rosary Catholic School, said he has an internship that he found through ACT.

“The internship we just tutor,” Shaw said. “We tutor third and fourth graders. We do it for service hours.”  

Shaw said the ACT allows him to meet people he doesn’t know and to make something for the community as a group with people that he doesn’t know. He said the ACT provides him with a lot of teamwork opportunities.

“We always encourage the youths to go to the city council meetings because we want to show them that youths are here,” Saucedo-Hinke said. “Youths have a voice. They are involved.”