The UHS Youth Action Team (YAT) held a club-exclusive event, Movies with a Mission, on Nov. 17 at the University Community Center. Club members got to know each other as they watched movies and made decorations for the 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines, all while earning community service hours.

The 2/11 Marines is a battalion that the city of Irvine adopted in 2007. Every year, the city of Irvine and the 2/11 Marines host a holiday party for the families that live on base which the UHS YAT members made decorations for. 

“The part that I enjoy the most is everyone coming together for a cause,” High School Youth Outreach Senior Leader Jada Ulep said.

UHS YAT members bonded over the experience of helping the community as they made Grinch-themed posters, peppermint decorations, ate candy and popcorn and watched the new Spider-Verse movie. They played icebreakers to introduce themselves and voted on which movies they wanted to watch.

According to Ulep, events like Movies with a Mission are extremely impactful, even if individual volunteers don’t necessarily get to see the bigger picture.

“The families really love all the decorations,” Ulep said. “They don’t care that it is homemade; they just really love the idea that someone out there is thinking about them.”

Movies with a Mission focuses specifically on UHS YAT members allowing them to meet other people and form new friendships.

“I really like this specific event because YAT is a very wide program from all Irvine high schools and this is the first UHS-specific event of the year,” Vishaalakshi Nachiappan said.

The Youth Action Team is a very popular program that allows students all over Irvine to help the community through volunteering. It allows students to experience leadership responsibilities with representatives from each class. For the class of 2025, Nachiappan and Kyle Shen fill that role.

“It is just a great opportunity for our club members to kind of bond as a school and come out and get to know each other,” Shen said.

The UHS Movies with a Mission was a unique and enjoyable experience to start the year for YAT members as they helped out the city of Irvine and the 2/11 Marines with decorations.