Right now, in a Larimer playground, a young girl practices her twirls on the jungle gym, a boy circles on his bike and an animated group of hoopsters play with passion. A few months earlier, though, and this wouldn’t have been possible, as the neighborhood space was littered with drug paraphernalia, dealers and broken water fountains, pavement and basketball nets. What a difference a few teens make.

Thanks to vision, hard work and collaboration, the playground has a whole new lease on life. And so do the students from Pittsburgh’s Peabody High School who saw a need in their neighborhood and pursued every avenue to make it a reality.

This revitalization project is just one of nearly fifty projects invented and realized by local teens thanks to the Pittsburgh Young Leaders Academy, one of the important programs supported by United Way’s Motivating Kids to Succeed in School Initiative and in partnership with Pittsburgh Public Schools and Pittsburgh Cares.

According to Holly McGraw, Program Manager, Pittsburgh Cares Youth Engaged in Service, more than 200 students from Pittsburgh Brashear, Pittsburgh Carrick, Pittsburgh Langley, Pittsburgh Oliver and Pittsburgh Peabody High Schools are participating in this experiential service learning opportunity. And, she explains, “the projects they’re working on are awesome.”

By identifying specific needs or issues in their communities, these young Pittsburghers are finding that they can make a difference where they live, learn and play.

On Pittsburgh’s Northside, PYLA students at Oliver High School discovered resources in their community their peers didn’t know were available to them. So they held a screening of the film, “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire” and a discussion of the issues the movie’s characters faced – homelessness, teen pregnancy, abuse – and the places local kids could turn for help when confronting those very same problems.

Realizing that they might be able to help convince their peers to stay in school instead of dropping out, Brasher High School PYLA members created an art installation that literally gave students a way to see themselves in different future roles, from college graduate to business professional to physician. So popular, the installation will become a part of the school district’s Ninth Grade Nation.

At Pittsburgh Langley, PYLA participants created a larger-than-life game called, “Decisionopoly,” geared to help players make smart choices in life, from finances and education to personal health, by making a decision like, ‘play a sport in school,’ or ‘take up smoking.’ As kids move about the board, the discussions are lively.

Inspired by the movie, “Pay it Forward” students at Pittsburgh Carrick created traveling books, illustrated by children from a local Boys & Girls Club, demonstrating small acts of kindness and the importance of peer-to-peer workshops. They also enlisted representatives from PriceWaterhouseCoopers to review presentations and help determine winners from a grant application process, awarding $500 toward the projects.

As the next academic year starts, so does another fresh crop of students looking to learn leadership skills and the importance of community service. According to McGraw, the program keeps growing, and veteran PYLA participants are further developing their confidence, self-esteem and involvement in community. In the meantime, kids in that Larimer playground have a safe place to play. Maybe one day, they’ll pay it forward and join the PYLA, too.