TWO local students are currently participating in nation-wide campaigns to create positive change in their communities after attending an Indigenous youth leadership conference.
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Great Lakes College students Gemma Pol and Jordan Clarke were selected to participate in the National Indigenous Youth Leadership Academy (NIYLA) in May.
The week-long gathering was held in Sydney and brought together 50 indigenous youths aged 15 to 18 from communities across Australia. The aim is for the youths to lead positive change through national campaigns on issues they are passionate about.
As part of the campaign, about five to 10 youths were put into groups and participated in filming a YouTube video as well as launching a Facebook page.
Over the next eight weeks both Gemma and Jordan will continue to create change by promoting the video and page.
Gemma, a year 11 student, worked on an awareness campaign called ‘Put Unity in the Community’ which aims to eliminate discrimination towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and intersex communities.
She says the campaign is a great opportunity to promote equality but admitted that at times it had been confronting.
“I had to play a bully and I found it really hard. Some of the group actually got emotionally affected by what we had to say or do because it’s something they have to experience in their day to day lives,” she said.
“I think everyone should be equal. It’s something I’m passionate about promoting. Love is love. It shouldn’t matter who you are.”
Jordan, who is in year 10, worked on the ‘Aspire to Inspire’ campaign which focuses on encouraging communities to discover and support the aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youths. The campaign took on the hashtag #Iwillbe which members hold up on placards throughout the Youtube video.
He says the gathering was a life-changing experience and highly recommends it to other indigenous students in the Great Lakes and Manning Valley.
“It wasn’t like learning at school. It was more like real life learning. We got to learn about other people’s cultures,” he said.
“I shared a room with an indigenous guy who had been in juvenile detention. He was the nicest person I’d ever met and he has turned his life around. It was great to get to know him and hear his story.
“It was like a family atmosphere. At the gathering we were saying ‘my brothers, my sisters, this is my mob and your mob’.”
“It was a great week. I had the time of my life.”
To view the campaign videos simply search for the title of the campaigns on youtube or follow them on Facebook.
