On Monday, nine Sancta Maria College students (Lorenzo Cruz, Erica Lim, Adam Martis, Zoe Chou, Mia Gilchrist, Kelly Mascarenhas, Francesca Adams, Meggy Laguda and Hennessey Catayas) attended the Howick Youth Council Conference. One of the nine students, Meggy Laguda, the Year 12 Sancta Maria representative for the Howick Youth Council.
Meggue helped organise the day alongside the other Howick Youth Council members. The day consisted of 9 schools (Botany, Howick, Elim, Mission Heights Junior College, Ormiston, Pakuranga, Saint Kentigern, Edgewater and Sancta Maria) attending Te Tuhi Arts Centre in Pakuranga. The schools were sorted into different focus groups, where they discussed common issues that they thought needed to be addressed.
These focus groups were wellbeing, youth development, equity, infrastructure (transport), environment and culture and heritage. Amongst these groups, recommendations were made to the local board on the issues that were raised.
The culture and heritage group raised the issue that cultural artwork should be more prominent around the Howick region with different pieces of art being displayed to represent the various cultures within our multicultural society. The wellbeing group recommended that youth should have subsidised counselling sessions outside of school for those aged up to 18 (like how there are free dentist appointments for children up to 18), and that it should be compulsory for everyone to have an appointment with the guidance counsellor at least once a year. The wellbeing group thought that this would help raise awareness of mental health issues. The infrastructure (transport) group talked of how the AT Metro app should be made easier and more accessible for youth to use, as this would help encourage the use of public transport. These were just some of the ideas that were discussed.
Throughout the day, different workshops were run. They were aimed at the different focus groups and the main points talked about. This helped students to identify what their role in Howick is and what they can do outside of school. Guest speakers talked about the different issues and a debate was held at the end of the day to talk about people’s different opinions about the recommendations each focus group suggested.
Meggy Laguda said, “It’s been our best Howick youth summit.” Another student said, “The conference was filled with amazing discussions as everyone had their own different opinion. It was interesting to hear people’s views and understand their reasoning. Overall the day was empowering and the lunch and morning tea provided was very yummy!”
All the Sancta Maria College students are excited about the upcoming events that the Howick Youth Council will be running in the near future.
Mia Gilchrist
