June has been an extremely busy time for Somerset Youth Parliament, with exam pressures as well as their responsibilities with Youth Parliament.
This month, we have a couple of updates: one from Ellie, a Member of Youth Parliament, and another from Lara, a member of the Somerset Youth Parliament Advisory Group.
Ellie Bealing – Surviving Exams, Taking Care of Yourself
Having just completed my GCSEs it feels difficult to work out what to do next. After such a whirlwind of stress and revision, it’s easy to find yourself at a crossroad of emotions. It’s only now that I’ve finally finished my exams that I am able to reflect on the experiences of the past two months, with the guilt I felt over not revising enough still coming to bite me.
I know I am not alone in this confusion either, as with social media painting a picture of 12 hour shifts of revision in search of grade nines, many will also have shared the pressure to be perfect or to fit others standards. In reality, we know our limits and should judge success by how much we’ve tried. If you put in the effort then success will follow. Though equally, exams are not the centre of our lives, and I know the struggles I faced with allowing myself to get out of the house and enjoy myself without worrying about what I might have missed.
Our school lives must be balanced too, and too often young people miss this important point. It is not a failing to take breaks to reward yourself for the hard work you’re putting in, and we shouldn’t encourage our friends around us to ignore their mental health at this stressful period.
Exams are truly only a fraction of a much longer, happier existence and my advice to all future year 11s would be to find the things that bring you joy and allow yourself to cherish them, as these are what make difficult times more worthwhile.
For me, the biggest reward of my GCSEs was my prom and so after the difficulties I faced, it was bliss to celebrate with all my friends and enjoy the feeling of peace that it marked.
Happy Times are never too far away, so always keep an eye out for their arrival and remember that marks on a paper do not determine your self-worth.
Lara Martin – New York College Trip
I was so excited to spend a week away in New York! I don’t know about you but I find it difficult to keep the rose-tinted glasses on when I travel. Everything is new and exciting at first, but I’m trying to become a more present person as I want to notice so much more around me and appreciate the differences in culture.
We’ve all watched, read or heard about the diverse culture and have an idea of what it would be like. So many New Yorkers have influenced the arts across the world for generations but part of me wanted to look past the ‘highlights’ and consider the lives of ordinary people.
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that the air quality and general pollution was so bad, particularly in summer when the air is thick and almost smog like.
Trash covers a lot of the streets in a way that’s different from the UK, It might be due to the fact that there are less bins and the bins that are around have been secured after 9/11.
Compared to the countryside the noise was immense as well, so I can imagine living conditions are a lot more difficult for young people in those areas and potentially damaging as they grow and develop.
In addition, I’ve been extremely lucky to be a woman that’s gone pretty much my whole life without getting cat called or harassed in anyway. I often dress quite masculine and hang out with guys more, maybe as a form of defence against this so it was a change to be dressed in less clothing due to the heat. It hit me quickly how different the culture was as in the span of a week my group was cat called at least three or four times, often by older men. It was really unpleasant.
But as it made me more alert, I began to notice other things such as the amount of homeless people and drugs on the street. I realised how much safer some of our local areas are in comparison. A lot of the New York streets have a distinct smell of weed (as it is legal there) but also I guess that there is a lot of fentanyl use, based on the demeanour of a few people on the streets. Sadly, these people seemed to fall into two categories, violent or vulnerable We found ourselves walking past at least one or two homeless people per block.
It’s true what they say, that American food servings are huge! Yet it was cheap compared to the UK and it made me think about the cost of living impact on people in the UK and poverty. However, what shocked me specifically was that it cost me $3.50 for a single fresh apple -whereas I could get a pizza slice the size of my hand on every block for $.99. There was sodium warnings on the menus in some of the restaurants and their cup sizes are twice as big as ours, offering sugary sodas for half the price of the UK, yet I was surprised that water fountains were few and far between.
A lot of people here talk about the obesity problem in the US and are often quite ignorant or even offensive about it. And I may have even been judgemental about it myself without realising, but after observing and reflecting I understand how difficult it was to get fresh fruit and veg. Fast food is really the cheaper option for a lot of people -especially in this time of need.
I can say wholeheartedly I did not eat very well at all, specifically as I am a vegetarian and I kid you not every single restaurant we went to had a maximum of one vegetarian option if I was lucky! Pretty much everything had chicken or beef in the dish and I was reduced to cheesy chips more times than I can count. I’m truly not surprised that young children aren’t eating healthy when they are fed this food from such a young age with little access to fresh goods and it’s really made me appreciative of how I eat here.
Despite these issues, there is a also a complete flipside to what is still a gorgeous city. There was actually so for young people to do. Of course, some had a cost implication but there were more activities and open spaces for young people to gather, compared to the UK and as everything is so packed together, there were a lots of little pockets of diverse communities with their own vibe that were clearly supporting each other through the downsides.
Spending a week away somewhere so vastly different from our own county made me think about the challenges of New York young people, families and young adults. I’m so grateful for the environment where I live but there are issues none the less and visiting New York has given me a fresh perspective and ideas about how we can reflect on other people’s experiences to improve our own lives.
Finally, since I’ve been busy with wrapping up some work with young Devon and the New York trip this month I haven’t had the chance to do some direct work with young people or decision makers in a while.
However, I did speak to a colleague of mine as he’s emailed all of our potential MP candidates about how they will tackle the issue of young people’s mental health. Him and the charity that he runs are both based in Devon, but I was wondering if I could do something similar for our local MP candidates? I’m not sure how to go about doing this though. Do I just send them an email? What’s the best way to reach them?
