On Thursday 27 July 2023, ten of our schools’ junior leaders took part in a leadership conference held at Mission Heights Junior College. It was truly a day of experiences where we met new people from other schools and delved deeper into issues for our youth. We were organised into ten groups, each with one representative from each school. After a couple of icebreakers, we started to research our given topics.
The theme of this year’s conference was ‘being the change’, so we focused on youth issues such as: mental health, fake news, AI and keeping our Māori heritage. Our task was to explain these topics, think of solutions and to present this in a creative form to determine the winning group. We had a couple of hours for research and practicing our skits, game shows and slam poetry. When it was time to present, each group showcased their creativity, understanding and individuality. As we watched and enjoyed each performance we started to understand and grasp onto the meaning behind each issue. As each presentation came to an end it was time for the prize giving, every group did amazing and showcased their talents and issues to its full potential. But one group in particular Youth Group 3 won with their great idea of presenting Fake news using a skit with 2 social media influencers. All Sancta Maria College students represented our school very well, especially our two students Kael Sunga (part of Youth Group 3 who received an honourable mention) and Aryaman Sinha (receiving an honourable mention for his slam poetry).
The year 10 junior school leaders are grateful to have participated in this event and look forward to being the change for our generation.
