Northcoast Preparatory Academy's Alex Riggs named Youth of the Year for her work with Teen Court

Northcoast Preparatory Academy (NPA) is proud to announce that Freshman student Alex Riggs was named Humboldt County Youth of the Year by the Boys and Girls Club of the Redwoods. On March 8, Alex will represent Humboldt County at the Twitter Headquarters in San Francisco for the regional finals.

Youth of the Year is a leadership program developed by Boys & Girls Club of America to “foster a new generation of leaders, fully prepared to live and lead in a diverse, global and integrated world economy.”

Alex Riggs is deeply committed to restorative justice and is a leader in the Humboldt County Teen Court Program. “My vision for America’s youth is more teen courts and the application of restorative justice in a broader fashion,” she explains. “Restorative justice in its simplest form is a type of justice that aims to help rehabilitate and reconstruct the offenders’ bonds with the community and/or victim(s). Re-establishing these offenders’ bonds with the outer society is essential to helping them live a happy and free life. Restorative justice is very important for people of all ages but it is key for juveniles as teenagers are still growing.”

For Sacha Marini, Director of The Teen Court Program, Alex “revealed her leadership qualities by getting trained as a student attorney, and immediately taking on cases. She shows compassion and understanding in her approach with youth who are struggling. She is articulate, bright, confident and a great representative of our Humboldt County Teen Court. We wish her all the best success at the Regional Level in San Francisco.”

“Alex is a well-rounded young renaissance woman,” says Arny King, NPA Social Sciences Instructor. And Casey Mansfield, NPA Tennis Coach, is particularly impressed by Alex’s “amazing attitude and spirit, hard work in the classroom, on the tennis court, and in her personal life outside of school and sports.”

NPA is a public charter school. As an International Baccalaureate World School chartered through the Humboldt County Office of Education, NPA is devoted to providing a respectful and inspiring learning environment in which academic achievement and responsible citizenship are valued equally. Visit www.northcoastprep.org.