Chester Hill High School

Strength in Unity, Excellence in Education

Telephone02 9644 1099

Emailchesterhil-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Bankstown Youth Summit

On Thursday the 3rd of June, 120 Bankstown youths voiced their ideas on what can be done to improve the city's future by attending a Youth Summit at Bankstown Town Hall. The forum was organised by Bankstown Council as part of the community consultation process on the new Bankstown Community Plan. Our school sent 9 SRC students from years 9-12 to attend.

The day began with an introduction from the Mayor of Bankstown; Tania Mihailuk, who explained the purpose of the days activities. Schools were placed into groups to discuss issues of concern in the Bankstown area. We also discussed ideas and perspectives on matters affecting us and created strategies to reduce inequalities and social issues in the area.

After a serving of cupcakes and juice, students were then able to discuss individual issues affecting them. This gave all the students the opportunity to form conversations about particular issues, and how they felt socially, physically and mentally about these issues. There were over 15 issues listed including issues regarding recreational and physical activities, online technology and education. The big concern, however, was the environment. On this issue, students discussed how to protect the environment for future generations and we concluded that the best thing that could be done was to teach the older generations more about recycling.

After lunch, all of the students expressed their own individual goals in a way that would improve the lifestyle of the people in the Bankstown area. This concluded the days event and students had the opportunity to hang their name tags under the window of hope, which represented the student's initiatives towards Bankstown's hope of becoming a better place.

Overall it was a great experience and all students who attended the Youth Forum had a great time.

 

Written by:

Damian Kotevski, Wael Omar, Naazil Khan, Chritsine Ma, Elie Antoun, Khalil Gharibeh, Yavin Kumar, Jason Pham and Susan Nguyen