For 18-year-old Kaitlyn Mitchell, helping others is just part of her DNA. If she gets the chance to serve – she does it without question. Mitchell was recently given the Daily Point of Light Award #7896 by Points of Light, a nonpartisan, global nonprofit organization that inspires people to take action that changes the world. 

The award is given five days a week to individual U.S. citizens. Each person has their own day. Mitchell’s was Sept. 10, 2024. The recognition came from her participation in the Layton Youth Court.

“It’s a diversion program for kids with minor offenses who admit to the charges,” said Karlene Kidman, director of the Layton Youth Court who submitted Mitchell’s name to the organization. “They go before a panel of their peers. Then they are given a disposition ranging from community service to an apology letter. It’s to help them make better choices in the future and to help them not to make bad choices in the first place.”

Kaitlyn is amazing, said Kidman. “She first started with the court when she was 13 years old. She was so quiet. She started teaching the CHOICES class. When she heard about that she said ‘I want to do that.’”

She took it on and did a phenomenal job, Kidman said. “She came to the training and started teaching other kids.”

“I got started (with Youth Court) because we’d recently moved from Cache Valley to Layton and my mom saw a post in the school newspaper,” said Mitchell. “I thought it sounded fun.”

The CHOICES class teaches things like how to avoid peer pressure, she said. “We talk about emotional management, drugs, etc. We’ve had a couple of people who had offender charges end up coming back to be on the panel.”

Mitchell said the panel talks to the offenders about their lives. “We try to get to know them. They’re nervous to stand before the panel. We ask about school, their grades and hobbies.” 

They’re also given the chance to give their side of the story, she said. “Some were peer pressured into it. We’re humans. We all make mistakes.”

The panel is able to see the police report, said Mitchell. “Sometimes they lie so it helps to know what the report says.”

 Mitchell has some health issues but she doesn’t let that stop her. “I have Tourette’s Syndrome and Functional Neurological Disorder (FND),” she said. “I have tics that make it really hard for me to do things but they disappear when I’m at Youth Court.”

“The Youth Court meets once a week,” said Kidman. “In the last fiscal year, Layton saw 100 cases. In two years we had a 100% success rate.”

Kidman said the kids come to them from different sources. “They come to us from the school, police officers and parents. When they get a citation that could go on their record, the police know about youth court. This gives them a second chance and shows them that this is serious. If they don’t comply they could be sent back to juvenile court.”

Most of the kids who come into Youth Court don’t really care about their community, said Mitchell. “That’s why they act out. They don’t think people care about them or what they do. By connecting to their community, they realize there’s something to care about and there are more people to connect with.”

It’s so rewarding to see how kids made a simple mistake and the court can help fix it, she said. “They recognize it and never do it again.”

Mitchell said she’s learned a lot about herself through her service. “Through my disability I’ve learned to advocate for myself. By doing that, I’ve learned that I can pretty much do anything a ‘normal’ person can do. You might think you can’t do it – but you can.”