A collective and credible Northland secondary student voice

Students from around Northland met recently at the Pehiaweri Marae for the Northland E4E Forum, providing a credible youth voice for regional and national initiatives.

During September students from around the Northland region gathered at Pehiaweri Marae, Glenbervie to represent their schools in a biannual forum facilitated by Enterprise Northland.

The running of the forum is largely left to the students to discuss issues and initiatives within the community, particularly those concerning youth in Northland, develop solutions and improvements, and then put them into action.

The students were invited to provide input into the future development of Road Safety changes in NZ, which was brought to them by the Ministry of Youth Development on behalf of the Ministry of Transport.

The students also looked at the serious issue regarding the use of methamphetamine (P) in Northland and agreed that they would participate in the Northland P project that aims to educate and eliminate P from the region.

Rochelle Judkins from Kamo High School identified one of the key aspects of the forum as the relevance of the topics for discussion, “Having outcomes that were directly relevant to our youth and wider community that are so important and which can have immediate results.”

Two representatives from Development West Coast, Nicky Cooper and Julie Kissell, attended to observe the format of the forum, and how the students take charge.

“It was inspiring to see Northland youth, making decisions, developing outcomes and providing a collective voice for important issues,” says Ms Cooper.

The Northland E4E Forum was formed in September of last year to give youth a credible voice, enabling them to contribute to decision making within their schools and also regionally and nationally.

The schools represented at this forum were Whangarei Boys’ High School, Whangarei Girls’ High School, Kamo High School, Tikipunga High School, Northland College, Springbank School, and Kerikeri High School.

The students are committed to developing school based forums throughout the region to feed back into the national forum.