On the 30th May, a handful of our year 10 leaders and Ms Juarez were very fortunate to attend the 2019 World Vision Youth Conference, at the University of New South Wales.The youth conference was aimed towards empowering young leaders to make changes not only in their school environments, but in their own lives.
Throughout the day, we were grateful to have been given three key sessions, by inspirational speakers and activists. One of the key highlights of the conference, was hearing from guest speaker Khadija Gbla- an African Australian activist- who shed light upon her own personal experiences as a refugee, having fled her home in Sierra Leone at the young age of 3, before going through 10 tedious years of applying for a refugee status and finally arriving at Australia. During this session, our eyes were opened to the real experiences and adversities of being a refugee, along with the ongoing issues in Australia regarding the policies and towards refugees. She emphasised on the importance of youth representation and action, for we have the potential to change the present and the future generations.
The other sessions were also very interactive and informative, featuring inspirational speakers such as Jimmy Kyle. We had various opportunities throughout the conference, that allowed us to voice significant issues in our modern world, and also build upon ideas on how we can propel change, through participating activities such as the Backpack Challenge.
Overall, the WVYC was an unforgettable experience that we will cherish forever. We were given the opportunity to make new friends from a variety of different schools from across the state, as well exploring the UNSW campus, giving the St Agnes leaders an insight into uni life. We came into the conference as leaders of St Agnes but came out as leaders of advocating change.
Alecksandra Favor, Dilara Alsan and Chrystal Aquilizan Year 10 Student Leaders
