Youth to provide input to Motueka's future plans

May 19th, 2015

The final event of the month-long Motueka 2030 programme will explore how the town can better cater for, engage with and retain today's young people.

The first ever Motueka Youth Summit will be held next Monday, May 25th, at the Top 10 Holiday Park conference centre, starting at 7.00pm.

It is a free event hosted by Vision Motueka, and the organisers are hoping for a roughly even mix of:

young people who have ideas about what would make the town more attractive and engaging for their age group, and
adults who are interested in helping youth to have their say and play a greater role in the future of the town.

The format of the summit will be around a panel of six people, three of them present or recently graduated high school students, and three adults who are presently engaged in youth leadership programmes in the community.

The adults are youth worker Paul ("Taxi") Johnson, dynamic Salisbury School deputy principal Stephen Evans, and youth mentor Carl Chapman.

The young people are recent high school head boy Jonty Comins, and the two present head students, Kora Appleton and Nathan Peacock (to be confirmed).

The MC for the evening is Brent Maru, and his role will be to start discussions between panellists on various issues, and get the audience involved through novel voting systems and general debate.

"I'm sure that Brent will ensure that the participants will listen to each other as equals, and not have older people telling the younger ones what they can and cannot do," says Vision Motueka chairman David Armstrong.

"That's the main goal of the evening. Although much of the process will evolve in its own way, we hope that with a good balance of people attending, young people and community leaders will get a clearer picture of what each hopes for and can contribute to a better future for the town.

"Hopefully one or more collaborations may result that could start some new youth development projects."

To provide input to this summit, several survey-style activities are currently being conducted at the high school to get opinions of a broader range of young people.

The conference centre holds about 80 people, and organisers expect a strong turnout, so those wishing to attend should ensure they arrive in good time.

A warm supper will be provided at the end of the summit.

"The Children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrepect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise" - Socrates 470-399 BC.

Comment by Zahra Lightway:
[Posted 20 May 2015]

This sounds like a fantastic event. I can't wait!

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