Jocelyn and Stephanie represent at the Strathfield Youth Advisory Board!

Last Tuesday, we had the amazing opportunity to represent MLC School at the Strathfield Youth Advisory Board!

Comprised of a pair of students from schools located in the Strathfield electorate, the Youth Advisory Board allows like-minded students to raise concerns about the issues surrounding young people. Led by Jason Yat-Sen Li and Strathfield Council, the YAB is scheduled to meet four times in 2026 to allow for the discussion of real issues and their solutions.

In our very first session, we were assigned random groups and brainstormed the five main issues we believe young people face. Afterwards, we presented our thoughts and settled on three core ideas: mental health, social media, and religious/ethnic inclusion. Each year, the YAB establishes one main issue to tackle, and we found that our interest lay in the final idea: inclusion. This caused us to dive into insightful conversation, dealing with matters of religion and culture influencing the way people treat us, linking back to social media and its negative effects when distributing news. We were able to showcase our understanding of Australia and young people through our participation in group discussions. 

In all, this experience was extremely valuable. We were able to meet likeminded, passionate young people, discuss real-world issues in detail, and hear from a variety of perspectives. We’re extremely grateful for this opportunity and are looking forward to the next meeting!