The Youth Parliament Advisory Group meets up regularly to discuss different topics and participate in different activities. In this article Grace recaps the interesting, fun and exciting meeting.
During May’s meeting, we began to think about the attributes that are useful when being part of Somerset Youth Parliament, as well as Youth Parliament in general. We used flash cards with different characters on them such as ‘loyal’ and ‘ambitious’ and then chose 10 cards, which we thought applied to us. In addition to this, we chose cards that we felt definitely did NOT apply to us. It was really interesting when we went around the group to hear about other ways each person perceived themselves – and whether we agreed with what they believed. I think this exercise, while being really fun, was also a brilliant strategy to learn about ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses which is a brilliant tool for self-improvement and gaining confidence. Even when we weren’t taking part in planned activities, we still had brilliant discussions: for example, during our lunch break we were debating whether salt and vinegar crisp packets should be blue or green – which proved to be a controversial topic!
After this, we discussed extremely exciting plans for the Somerset Youth Forum, potential projects, Somerset Youth Parliament Election Year process (where anyone will be able to nominate themselves for election to become a Member of Youth Parliament within the next few weeks – once information and forms are on our website). We practiced our debating skills and discussed interview skills training, which are not only useful for being a member of Youth Parliament – but also skills for life in the wider world.
I’m looking forward to our next meeting – there is SO much to look forward to!
Grace
Not just elected members
Did you know that Somerset Youth Parliament isn’t just it’s elected members? Any young person in Somerset aged 10-25 years can become a member of the Somerset Youth Parliament Advisory Group.
For more information about becoming a member of the Somerset Youth Parliament Advisory Group and to join, visit our Join Us page.
