Teen Court leader wins Spirit of Youth award

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

The Spirit of Youth awards recognized two Kodiak locals this year, one for his work with Kodiak Teen Court.

Spirit of Youth is an Alaska-based nonprofit that acknowledges young people making a difference in their communities.

Kodiak’s Robert Otto will take home an award. Or at least take it home to Nevada, where he’s now a freshman in college.

Otto says he was in Teen Court for six years, starting in 8th grade.

“I think it’s interesting learning about law and stuff, but what kept me coming back was knowing that I was helping people.”

Teen Court is a peer-to-peer program where young people face a court room of judges, prosecuting attorneys, and defense attorneys, all their age.

The defendant then receives productive sentences like community service, for example. Otto says it’s called “restorative justice.”

“It’s your second chance, basically. It doesn’t go on your record if you complete your sentence. It’s really helpful because if you’re applying for a job, and they see that you got arrested for shoplifting, and it’s in your permanent record, they might not want to hire you.”

During his time at Teen Court, Otto says he served as board of directors vice-president and the bar president and was involved in almost every single case in some way.

Otto says Teen Court gave him an introduction to law, but it also taught him how to speak to people.

“Talking with the defendant, you have to be thorough, talk about their life, all that. Like, what’s going on at home, and it can be hard talking to parents, especially if something is going on at home.”

Otto says he’s also now much better at public speaking.

Despite his experiences in Teen Court, he says he’s not pursuing a career in law. He says he’s looking into mortuary science instead.

The other Kodiak local to get a Spirit of Youth award this year is Rafael Bitanga. You can tune into KMXT Tuesday to hear more about him.