Project Components Esperance Youth Summit The third element, the Esperance Youth Summit, was held over two half days on Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th April 2016 during the last week of the school term. The timing and dates for the Summit were planned for this period with input from senior staff at both schools with aim to engage youth before they went away for school holidays. The objective of the Esperance Youth Summit was to actively engage young people to identify and develop a youth project (concept) proposal based from one of the priority areas to support a youth-friendly Esperance. In addition the Summit provided opportunity to develop leadership and team skills; network with local youth and Shire stakeholders; and develop friendships through fun and engaging activities. The Summit targeted young people aged 12 to 25 years with participation through a nomination process that could either be a written application or a short video clip. The youth could selfnominate or be nominated by some else briefly explaining how one (or more) of the following applied to the young person. • Regular leadership skills; • Proactive in making Esperance a better place to live through their contribution (e.g. volunteering, involvement in community events/ sporting groups, etc.); and/or • Notable commitment to their personal endeavours (e.g. education, sports, cadets, creative arts, dance etc.) A promotional pack was provided to the various stakeholders to promote to through their youth links. Numerous young people were also targeted including those who had participated in Stage 1 engagement processes and Stage 2 Survey. This aspect of the project supported themes 1 through to 8.
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Participant Information The Summit aimed to provide up to forty places Summit nominees however due to a number of factors twelve applied and were accepted, aging from 12 years to 25. The ‘delegates’ consisted of three boys and nine girls with ten nominating themselves and two nominated by someone else. Four were aged 12-13 years; two were 1415 years; three were 16 to 17 years; two aged 18 to 21; one was 22-25 years. Two delegates represented Indigenous youth. The nomination questions assisted with identifying individual passions and interests which included education; mental health; diversity; youth engagement, volunteering, environment, Indigenous engagement, employment and youth services/ facilities. Unfortunately one young person had to leave part way to care for a family member and as such eleven attended the full Summit event.
Feedback Feedback with relation to nominating for the Summit was that young people were interested however if in year 11 and 12 they did not want to interrupt their classes; some preferred the Summit to be after school/in the evening and others wanted it on the weekend. Great consideration was placed in the pre-planning of the event regarding the most suitable timeframe for the event. Consideration was given to homework; exams; sports/club activities, training and games; transport; and the significant youth departure from Esperance during the school holiday break. Without a clear preference, partnering the Summit with the schools and running during school hours was deemed the better option. With relation to the actual Summit the delegate’s feedback was exceptionally positive with all greatly appreciating the opportunity. The stakeholders and Shire Councillors were also really grateful to have attended with lots of engagement activities and two way discussions around various youth based topics. Further details can be found in the ‘Key Outcomes’ section that follows.
