Youth Ambassador Program

**2023-2024 Youth Community Ambassadors**

Oscar Montgomery - Senior, George Wythe High School
Anastasia Kapranos - Senior, George Wythe High School
**Past Youth Community Ambassadors**
Program Established (2017)
Audra White (2017-2018) - Virginia Tech Architecture
Charlie Jones (2018-2019) - James Madison Public Policy
Noah Willis (2019-2020) - Virginia Tech Animal Sciences
COVID Vacancy (2020-2022)
Program Reinstated (2023)

As part of Downtown Wytheville’s mission, we aim to engage and empower the youth in our community and help reverse the perpetual “brain drain” facing rural areas by giving the youth a stake in the decision-making of our community. By giving students input in the direction of our hometown, it gives them pride in where they’re from and encourages them to continue effecting change in Wytheville after they graduate. Originally, this program selected one senior from George Wythe High School who served as a member of the Downtown Wytheville Board of Directors working on committees and pursuing youth projects. The inaugural holder of this office was Audra White, who is now an Architecture student at Virginia Tech, followed by Charlie Jones, who now works for Downtown Wytheville, then Noah Willis, an Animal Sciences student at Virginia Tech. Due to COVID-19 restrictions and virtual schooling, the program was paused during the pandemic and was subsequently reworked and reinstated in 2023 to bring on two ambassadors with staggered ages so projects can have continuity as individuals graduate. For the first year of this reinvented program, we had many great applicants and ultimately decided to pick two seniors: Oscar Montgomery and Anastasia Kapranos. Through specialized assignments and youth input, we can’t wait to see what direction they steer our organization and community!! You can read more about this program in this Fall 2023 blog post from our state partners at Virginia Main Street.