Young people from Geelong schools Iona College and Oberon High School will have the chance to present their ideas for a better future when they participate in the Social Innovators (SI) program this week.
Driven by Crazy Ideas College and supported by local partners ID Land, Geelong Tech School and other local businesses, the term two Geelong SI program aims to help young people devise services, programs and products that enrich their communities.
Year 8s and 9s from both schools will come together on Thursday, May 25 and Friday, May 26 at Armstrong Creek’s Community Centre to participate in the program, where they will generate ideas about issues they care about and present pitches to a panel of community partners.
The panel will provide feedback to teams to assist in developing their ideas further and connect them with the people, organisations and resources that can help bring their ideas to life.
Crazy Ideas College program delivery lead Paige Banks said every time she attended a SI program she was blown away by the young participants’ passion and knowledge.
“(The SI program) is all about bringing young voices into the room,” Ms Banks said.
“Often people overlook young people, saying they don’t have the experience, or they don’t know how to address things. But more so than not, I’m completely shocked by how impressive these young people are.
“Whether it’s the LGBTIQ issues, the environment, climate change or bullying in their schools, they’re really passionate, really knowledgeable and they really care.
“These programs are all about taking it to the next step, enabling them to take a problem and figure out how to solve it themselves or as a team.”
All ideas will be showcased on Crazy Ideas College’s online platform cicbeyond.com, and Ms Banks encouraged all local community members to get online and check out what Geelong’s youth come up with.