By Zane Houston
For six members of the Chittering Youth Krew, what began as a chilly Sunday morning drive to Kwinana Zone Youth Space for YACtivate turned out to be a sunny day filled with laughter.
Over 130 members of Local Government Youth Advisory Councils (YACs) from across WA gathered on 12 August at the annual YACtivate Conference for a day of empowering presentations, group discussions and fun indoor and outdoor team-based activities. It was also a chance for the members, aged 12 to 25, to share, network and learn from each other.
Guest speaker David Castelanelli is a 2018 WA Youth Ambassador, entrepreneur and school speaker. His business, Alpha Motivation, provides self-development and leadership programs in schools and a focus of his speech was on the importance of setting goals. David’s message was: “If there’s no goal, there’s no clarity and without clarity there is no motivation.” Attendees then went about setting their own personal goals and those for their YAC.
Another inspiring part of the day was when all the YACs shared information about the local activities and events they are planning. It was a fun, safe place for people to talk about what they truly felt would help their YACs.
A highlight was playing in the Zone’s impressive game arcade which even had an old-fashioned pinball machine. In the hall, games like basketball and table tennis were a hit. Everyone enjoyed the outdoor group activities too including a game of Pinpoint Catch which requires extreme concentration whilst another involved coming together to form a human Titanic.
The day was made possible by the friendly Planning Committee who were always willing to lend a hand if needed. The Shire of Augusta-Margaret River led this year’s Committee and their Community Development Trainee, Ladriel Hackett (19), said, “I attended the inaugural YACtivate in 2016 as a member of our local YAC. It’s organised by youth for youth and it was rewarding to be involved in the planning this year. It’s incredible the amount of people who travelled such long distances to come together for the day.”
Thank you to the Planning Committee and Shire of Chittering’s Community Development Officer, Lisa Kay, who organised the Krew and chauffeured members along with Natasha Harry.
Overall, it was loads of fun topped off at the end by a big discussion about ideas and planning for YACtivate 2019.
Zane recently turned 13 and is a member of the Shire of Chittering’s Youth Krew.
