FAIRMONT — Kaycie Brookens, a junior at Fairmont High School, is the newest addition to the Minnesota Youth Council.

The council is a collaboration of youth and adults who work together to empower and mobilize young people across the state to exercise their voices and take action on issues affecting youth.

The council works with state agencies such as the Minnesota departments of Education and Health, and in conjunction with Legislature.

Brookens, daughter of Dan and Jennifer Brookens, applied for a position in the late spring. She had an interest in the council for some time and heard more about it from her friend, fellow classmate and council member Weston Loughmiller.

“I wanted to step up and take a role and not only engage myself, but be able to bring that opportunity of engagement to a lot of younger people in my community,” Brookens said.

She found out this summer that she was selected as a member on the council. Of course, this year looks slightly different than past years because of the pandemic.

“They usually have an in-person model but so far all of our meetings have been over Zoom. This past weekend, we had our kickoff to really get the ball rolling,” she said.

Brookens is a youth representative for District 1. The youth council is made up of 36 students across the state in grades 9-12.

There are four sub-committees. Brookens is on the mental health and well-being committee, a topic she feels passionate about. Other sub-committees are education equity, environmental justice and juvenile justice.

When asked what she’s most excited about, Brookens said, “I’m very much looking forward to being able to hear bills and have an input on them and be able to listen to a lot of the people in power.”

She said the council is lucky enough to have a considerable number of grants it can award to local projects involving youth and their engagement.

She said the Minnesota Youth Council is the only legislatively mandated body of young people in the country.

“We really want to get the message out that we want to get people involved with us. We like to get our name out there and know how unique this is,” Brookens said.

As a student, she is involved in speech, debate, mock trial, theater, band, orchestra and tennis.