Kiama High’s Student Representative Council (SRC) has put forward submissions on multiple issues they feel are important for local youth in Kiama Council’s annual Youth Engagement Meeting, which was held on Zoom earlier today today.

The Youth Engagement Meeting, held each year during Local Government Week, is a properly constituted meeting of Kiama Council, involving councillors, senior staff and the SRC.

Council reports back to students on the matters raised and other actions agreed to from last year.

One submission from last year’s meeting was to upgrade the Showground unstable fencing structure. Today’s meeting reported Council has received almost $1 million of grant funding for works on the fencing, as well as new temporary grandstands for the Kiama Show and further augmentation work in the cattle yards and in the Pavilion.

At today’s meeting, submissions from the SRC on behalf of local youth looked at upgrades for Kiama High School carparks and local skate parks, the organisation of more youth activities and mental health resources, and even a solar power initiative for the school.

“I have some ideas that the greater student body had talked to me about. The first one being an improvement to the back carpark down near the school bus bay on Weston Place,” said Keegan Willetts, School Captain in the meeting.

“It is quite run down and it is pretty unsafe as there is a lot of tree branches that fall down and the tree roots cover a lot of the car park.

“I feel like if it was filled in with some dirt or gravel it could really improve the overall use of the carpark and make it a lot safer for everybody.”

The senior’s carpark on Saddleback Mountain Road was also mentioned for upgrading with line marking or pavement. Council said they would put in a maintenance request to look at the carparks and organise a meeting with the student body to take some actions towards fixing both of these carparks.

The SRC at the meeting

Another submission, made by Year 9 student Summer Brooks, called for more youth events like volunteering activities.

“The youth could participate in volunteering activates such as tree planting, a youth market or a twilight market to help small businesses grow larger and help boost community engagement with youth,” she said.

Kiama’s Youth Service coordinator Melissa Andrews said they are already looking to create more opportunities for local volunteers in the near future.

“The Youth Service is currently trying to create a volunteering protocol because we don’t actually have one in place to be able to take on volunteers,” said Ms Andrews.

“We have certainly done projects with young people before but in terms of having formal volunteering program it is something we are looking into at the moment for both young people and older people in the community.”

There was also a submission on the need for a local mental health service.

“I’m requesting on behalf of my school and the youth of Kiama for the Council to provide a local service like the headspace in Wollongong,” says Caitlin Haih, School Captain.

“I think this is increasingly important as the recent lockdown restrictions have shown that there needs to be more local mental health resources available for the community.”

Council agreed with this submission and is advocating with local MPs Gareth Ward and Fiona Phillips to try and expand mental health services in Kiama, as the closest headspace in Wollongong can be too far for locals to go.

The SRC also called for maintenance and an upgrade of Kiama, Gainsborough and Gerringong skateparks, mentioning that local Olympic skateboarder Kieran Woolley could help design the park upgrades.

Skating is now an Olympic sport, and Minnamurra local Kieran Woolley made it to the finals

“At the moment, the skateparks are something that we do maintain when we are asked to as we don’t have a funded program of upgrades,” says Mike Dowd, Director Engineering and Works.

“The sports and recreation open space strategy will absolutely incorporate an opportunity for students to contribute on what they want to see us focus on in terms of upgrading skateparks and outdoor recreation sites like the Bike Skills Track in Minnamurra.

“We will be engaging with yourselves, other youth and groups around the LGA over the coming months to absolutely prioritise where you want us to invest.

“Our budget is fully allocated and we don’t have any skatepark upgrades in that list yet but I am very keen to work with you, the school and other youth.”

A solar power initiative was also submitted to increase the solar panel capacity at the High School. Programs like Solar My School, which has been implemented by a school in the Shellharbour area, were given as an option for Council to use. Council agreed with the importance of this initiative but said the budget for the year has already been committed.

Council also used the meeting to inform the Student Council about future employment opportunities at Blue Haven, HSC support sessions at Kiama Library, road safety projects and the Young Australian of the Year and Australian Day Young Citizen Awards.