Student volunteers in Western Kentucky are bridging the generational gap by serving as liaisons between a pregnancy center and schools, churches, and youth organizations, passionately engaging their peers through pro-life advocacy.
The Hope Student Ambassadors program, an outreach initiative sponsored by Hope Center Pregnancy and Family Services in Mayfield, Kentucky, equips middle school, high school, and college students to impact their peers through compassion and service. Students help raise awareness of available support options and encourage respectful, informed conversations around life, relationships, and personal responsibility. The program emphasizes character development, peer-to-peer influence, and service-driven leadership.
Hope Center, a member of Care Net’s national network of 1,300 pregnancy centers, offers free pregnancy tests, STI/STD tests, limited ultrasounds, post-abortion support, material needs assistance, and other practical, emotional, and spiritual help to empower women and men facing pregnancy-related concerns.
A recent article in Kentucky Today highlighted Hope Center’s student program and the vision of Executive Director Rebekah Flowers, who previously served as Youth Development Director when the pregnancy center launched its unique initiative.
Flowers told the publication that youth will not only lead in years to come but are the ones that their peers are listening to right now.
A key component to the program is “Real Talk,” which is described on social media as a “safe, honest, peer-friendly space” where students and ambassadors can discuss questions and topics that matter to teens. During Real Talk sessions on school campuses, ambassadors and pregnancy center staff set up tables and offer information about the pregnancy center while engaging in conversations about sexual health and relationships.
Having that connection to their peers will ultimately help young people to make healthy choices. Through training and hands-on involvement, student ambassadors learn about the resources the Hope Center provides to women and families facing unplanned pregnancies, while developing skills in communication, advocacy and community engagement.
“A lot of [pregnancy resource centers] have walked away from youth development. It’s a passion of mine because I believe prevention is the very first step,” Flowers said in Kentucky Today. “We want to love anybody and everybody that walks through our door, but if I can get to [them] before they need us and they can make better choices, and different choices that will impact their life so that they don’t need us, then that is a win, one hundred percent.”
In the article, student ambassadors expressed their pro-life passion and desire to impact their generation. To serve in the program, students must attend a school in the surrounding four counties and be active in a local church.
Maya Queen, a high school junior, said she wanted to help Hope Center reach out into the community through the ambassadors’ program.
“I’m a strong Christian believer. The Bible says that each life is precious and God made all of us in his image. We’re fearfully and wonderfully made in his image,” Queen said. “I think that everyone should get a chance at the life that God has planned for them.”