Cobar High School (CHS) was fortunate to host the Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations, Kareem El-Ansary, last Thursday.
CHS student representative council members met with Mr El-Ansary to discuss their future and how they would like it to be.
Student Georgie Buckman said the experience had been “a real eye-opener” on what affects the youth of today.
“It was good knowing that others felt the same way about the same things as me, which will hopefully lead to progression and making a stand in the future.
“I liked hearing other people’s perspectives on what they want done within the community as well and it was a great opportunity and experience.
“It was a great presentation and Kareem and his crew were very friendly and open-minded,” Georgie said.
Mr El-Ansary is currently on a seven month tour of Australia consulting with students to discover the issues that are most important to young Australians.
Known as the ‘Listening Tour’, these
workshops involve interactive activities and group discussions to explore the question the program is asking this year: ‘What will our future look like if young people are heard today?’
Mr Al-Ansary said he was determined to increase the reach of the program to engage with a more diverse range of young Australians than ever before.
“We are mostly touring regional Australia and have so far had 115 consultations.”
He is also committed to tapping into not only young people’s frustrations, but also their optimism and ideas for building better communities at every level.
Also travelling and joining the discussions with Mr El-Ansary is Luke Hyland, treasurer of the NSW division of UN Youth Australia, and Ned Feary, president of the UN Youth Australia Adelaide division.
In September, Mr El-Ansary will travel to New York to represent Australian youth at the United Nations, as a member of the official Australian delegation to the UN and deliver a speech on his findings during the Listening Tour.
On his return to Australia, Mr El-Ansary will deliver a report to the Federal Government on the year’s consultations.
