Young Writers | How young people are changing the world

Yass Valley Youth Council participated by assisting the Binalong CWA run a movie night, successful by all accounts.

If you did attend and would like to share your thoughts, a survey is available to do so.

My hope is that next year, the Youth Council will be able to hold a wider variety of events, and in the same thread as this year’s movie night, be able to incorporate more of the areas in the Yass Valley that are sometimes forgotten, though never with malice.

I was fortunate enough to represent the Yass Valley Youth Council at the Youth Week forum held at NSW State Parliament a few weeks ago, along with 150 other young people from around NSW, including Yass Valley residents Caleb Fryar and Prue Bucknell.

The forum was a wonderful opportunity to hear the plans being proposed and progressed by the Advocate for Children and Young People, Mr Andrew Johnson, and his team, and to offer ideas and feedback concerning legislation proposals being considered by all departments.

It was also a great opportunity to meet like-minded young people and future leaders from all over the state, and to hear about their various passion projects, from saving the orangutans, to creating a mentorship program for Indigenous youth in the foster care system.

It’s amazing to see what people my age and younger are doing to make the world a better place, and the care and excitement they are doing it with.

Even in a community as supportive and youth-oriented as the Yass Valley, it can often feel like you’re pushing against reality and expending a never-ending wave of effort to make even the smallest difference, and so it was incredibly inspiring to see all of these young people, and kids, working so hard to change the world, in all kinds of ways, and to see them face discouragement, and rise to the challenge over and over again, despite any barriers they encounter.

I would encourage anyone interested to get involved through the ACYP website, or at home through our local youth council, because together we can make a difference for not only our generation, but those to come.