Youth Mayor’s Column – 8 April 2020

With this unfortunate start to 2020, it’s great to see our local community stepping up to the challenges and banding together through unprecedented times.

In an effort to help our community band together, Snowy Monaro Youth Council has been hard at work adapting to the “new normal” and finding ways to keep us connected and entertained.

For those who don’t know, the Snowy Monaro Youth Council (SMYC) is a group of young volunteers from right across the region who come together to advocate for the needs of young people and act in an advisory capacity to ‘Big Council’ on matters which impact the lives of children and young people.

The 2020 Youth Council has participants of all ages, all backgrounds and from diverse geographical locations, this year we can confidently represent our entire region with pride.

SMYC has been challenged with supporting our local youth through COVID-19. It’s been tough to adapt, but it’s not above the skills of our local Youth Councillors. Each year, SMYC coordinates the region’s National Youth Week activities, which usually consists of a series of entertaining events and activities, along with our annual Snowy Monaro Youth Awards event.

Unfortunately, due to the current COVID-19 crisis, it wasn't possible to hold these events without posing a risk to our community. Our Youth Councillors came up with innovative ways to shift our planned activities to online platforms – the #Rona Campaign was born!

We launched the campaign on April 1 and it will see us release a new activity or initiative every day for the entire month. We’ve got Zoom writing and dance workshops, a Facebook live music gig with Oscar Litchfield, virtual museum and gallery tours and heaps of online learning tools and #iso activity ideas to keep our community connected and entertained while we spend more time at home.

Our #Rona campaign has had more than 8,000 visits and is growing! Please hop online and follow Snowy Monaro Youth Council on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to get involved and stay up to date, safe and entertained through these challenging times.

The Youth Council always advocates for happy and healthy young people in our area but urges everybody to be considerate of our current situation.

Remember to stay safe, wash your hands, stay indoors, exercise regularly and be productive. Self-isolation is the best defence against COVID-19, and it can be a good time to be creative and productive.

Learn to play a new instrument, read more books, explore the internet, binge watch movies, find ways to exercise at home, make paintings and drawings, and if that doesn't scratch the isolation itch, you could always do your homework and clean your room! Or maybe not…

Snowy Monaro Youth Council would like to remind everybody, young and old, that we are a community and we will get through this if we all play our part.

The Youth Council is here to help. If you have activities or ideas that we can support or you want us to include in our #Rona Campaign, please get in touch. Remember to stay positive, be kind and check in with those who might be more vulnerable.

Stay home. Wash your hands.

Youth Councillor Will Wright, Snowy Monaro Youth Council Mayor