Youths from Los Altos Hills and Los Altos Team Up for Friday Night Live

When Allika Walvekar became a youth commissioner for the town of Los Altos Hills in 2009, it felt a little strange to be speaking on behalf of all kinds of kids, as though one person could possibly know everything about her peers.

She needed help. She needed more youths.

And it's amazing what one can do in two years. Friday Night Live, which takes place in the Los Altos Youth Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday, is one of the results.

In the classic, one-action-begets-another, dozens of teens from both the Los Altos Hills and Los Altos youth commissions joined together for the first time to put on an open mic night.

"They've been around since 1990, so they had a lot more experience," Allika said about the Los Altos youth commission. Many of the commissioners in the two groups attend the same schools.

Friday Night Live will have two student bands, including Relax You Can Do This from Gunn High School, and Libertine Circle from Mountain View High School, four singer-musicians playing acoustical selections, and one choir from the Bullis Charter School.

With Allika's prompting, the town of Los Altos Hills created a youth commission. She recruited from all over—not just at Gunn High School, which a lot of Los Altos Hills teens attend, and not just at Los Altos High School, which others attend, but at her school, Harker, and Castilleja, which also attracts Los Altos Hills students.

Friday Night Live started out as Sunday Night Live in 2010 and attracted about 50-60 people. This year, by combining with Los Altos Youth Commission, the attendance, Allika hopes, will be bigger.