UNITY Youth Highlight
Katy Johnston’s first UNITY conference as Female Co-President carried both a leadership milestone and a personal sense of connection. At the February 2024 Midyear Conference in Arizona, being surrounded by Native youth and the UNITY community was an important part of what she took from the gathering.
Johnston, a member of the Bishop Paiute Tribe, served in UNITY’s 2023–2024 National UNITY Council Executive Committee cohort. The cohort represents Native youth, connects regional councils and individual members, and supports leadership through cooperation and service. Co-presidents help carry that shared youth leadership role across the national network.
“I needed to be surrounded by native youth and the UNITY family,” Johnston wrote in her report. She described enjoying the opportunity to network with youth while experiencing a UNITY conference from the perspective of her new role.
Her thanks extended to UNITY staff, participating youth, and Co-President Jonathan Arakawa. Those acknowledgments show the relationships surrounding the position: a national youth leader working within a community of peers and staff rather than carrying the experience alone.
The gathering connected with UNITY’s emphasis on social development and belonging. Meeting other Native youth offered Johnston a place to participate, reconnect, and share space with people involved in the same leadership network.
“Remember to talk to others and let them know how you are doing, you matter,” she shared.
That message also runs through the related spring updates she submitted in May. In March, she helped facilitate the We Are Living Arts event in her home valley with UNITY alumna Jeri Bruno, describing three days of art, medicine, and healing. In April, she focused more intentionally on her own well-being while keeping up with college responsibilities.
Read together, those experiences connect her conference participation with a broader understanding of leadership. Relationships with other youth, cultural experiences at home, and personal care each supported the person serving in the co-president role.
Johnston’s Midyear reflection therefore offers more than a conference recap. It shows how UNITY can be a place for both responsibility and connection, and why her invitation to check in with others belongs within the story of youth leadership.
