Youth Council funds Global Leadership Conference
Wednesday 16 May 2012
Around 300 students turned out to hear Chris Clarke, Chief Executive of World Vision New Zealand, speak at the Global Leadership Conference held at Kāpiti College yesterday.
The event was the first of a series of the youth-led initiatives funded by the Youth Council’s ThinkBIG programme, aimed at encouraging youth to create positive change in the world.
Students from both Kapiti and Paraparaumu Colleges attended the conference, which was aimed at motivating young people to look outside their communities and see the effects poverty has on third world countries.
“We wanted to encourage people outside Kāpiti College to get involved and be aware of what is going on in the world” said Katie Smith, Kāpiti Coast World Vision Youth Ambassador “the goal was for everybody to leave the hall motivated and excited about making a change.”
Youth Council member Jacob Barker was excited about the success of the event, which was the first of the 14 ThinkBIG grants awarded for community youth led projects.
“It’s great that the Youth Council could support an event like this and help make it happen.”
At least two months have been spent planning the conference, including attending workshops held by the Youth Council to assist ThinkBIG applicants with the planning of their projects. Each project has support from the Youth Council and an external mentor where possible.
The organising committee has decided to document the whole planning experience on film, making it a resource accessible to other Collages around New Zealand.