Port St. Lucie youth council reports rising participation, launches app and opens applications

Good evening, Mayor Martin and council members. So we are here to just give a general update on what the youth council's been up to. I'm Victoria Zaravellas. I am the chair of the youth council. We were officially established in 2023.

The Port St. Lucie Youth Council presented a year-end summary to the City Council on May 27, describing expanded community engagement, volunteer hours and new communications tools intended to increase teen participation. The group said it has run volunteer outreach at city events, attended state and national youth conferences and is actively recruiting for the next membership year.

Victoria Zaravellas, chair of the youth council, said the group's mission is to give young people an understanding of municipal government and a voice in the city’s strategic planning. “We work to ensure that the youth feel seen, heard, and included,” Zaravellas said.

Vice Chair Enrique Rosario told the council the youth council took part in nine city and community events this term, including National Night Out, PSL in the Lights, the Citizen Summit and Fan Fest, and conducted resident surveys at five events. Rosario said the council’s members have logged volunteer activity across events and internal meetings. The presentation stated that 42 members have volunteered and that the council has recorded 838.2 total volunteer hours to date.

Keisha Yu, chair pro tem, described two standing subcommittees — High Performing Public Spaces (working with Naturally PSL) and Parks — and said the youth council contributed design ideas for Torino Park and helped plan teen-centered events such as the Big Summer Blowout scheduled for June 2. “Ours is coming up June 2, so just about a week,” Yu said.

Stephanie Renau, community engagement manager and youth council coordinator, said staff created a youth council app to centralize communications and volunteer sign-ups. “We created a youth council app which has second communications hub where, teens can go and sign up for volunteer opportunities, submit all their volunteer hours ... and also we have our bylaws on there,” Renau said.

Renau and council members encouraged students to apply for the 2025–26 youth council year; applications opened May 12 and the city’s website lists two application buttons — one to reapply for current members and one for new members. The application is open through June 13 and is available to students entering grades 9–12 who reside in Port St. Lucie.

Council members praised the youth council’s outreach and asked clarifying questions about eligibility and the local leadership summit the council attended. Mayor Martin and council members noted the group’s local activities and thanked staff for mentoring the students.

The council did not take formal action on the presentation; the item was informational.

The youth council planned additional events and indicated the volunteer-hour total would increase as members participate in upcoming activities.