User talk:Jlykes

Jonathan Lykes
Jonathan Lykes, is committed to educational equality, voters' rights and increased opportunities for all students, regardless of their socio-economic background. Jonathan helped found a statewide action group that promotes student political activism, Youth Voices for Justice, and has traveled across Ohio educating young people and lawmakers alike on complex issues ranging from increasing the minimum wage, to educational equality. Jonathan is also a talented spoken word artist, whose many poems celebrate civil liberties, inspiring his peers to take a more critical look at their own rights. Jonathan Lykes was a member of the National Honor Society, student council president and a three-year participant in the inter-national Poetry Competition.

In May 2006, Lykes was one of over 100 high school students from across Ohio who gathered in Columbus to present their minimum wage petitions to the committee of petitioners. A mere 10th grader at the time, he electrified the crowd with an original poem. The refrain “$5.15 is an injustice” captured the theme for the day of the student-led gathering in Columbus. Lykes rhythmically inspired young people to stand up against poverty and economic injustice. In May 2007, he was one of the featured speakers to about 2,000 educators, religious leaders, parents, politicians and students at the Governor's Conference on Increasing the High School Graduation Rate for African American Male Students May 30, 2007.

Lykes is also a part of a new project that helps urban and rural high-school students find roles in our civic maelstrom. Their motto: Get together. Find a purpose. Talk. Listen. Take action. He recently won the 2008 ACLU student activist of the year award for his work with youth voices. In 2009 he has become co-founder and performance arts director for a Chicago organization called PAECE, a non-profit group that goes into high schools around the south side of Chicago and mentors students through poetry and skits. He is now attending the University of Chicago.