2007 International Youth Leadership Conference

Burlington Post Article - April 8/07

April 13^th, 2007 posted by Louise

Leaders of tomorrow to descend on city Youth leadership conference runs April 27-May 6
By Jason Misner
News
Apr 08, 2007

Conduite.
Leiding.
Führung.

Translated into English from French, Dutch and German respectively, the word is leadership.  And it’s a term that will be used a lot this month when close to 100 teenagers—the majority from more than a dozen countries from around the world—descend on Burlington to take part in an impressive 10-day youth leadership conference.

From April 27-May 6, youth, ranging in ages from 14-18, will be brought together to explore leadership opportunities in areas of culture, social planning, economics, government and the environment for the 2007 International Youth Leadership Conference.  This event builds on the one held in the Netherlands in 2005, and stands to attract twice as many young people.  In addition to France, Holland and Germany, other countries represented include Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Japan.

This year’s theme is Youth Leading Communities—Making a Difference. It will be broken down into a series of seven daily sub-themes, and will feature speakers, learning/networking and social events. For example, one session celebrates youth volunteerism.

BROADENING THEIR HORIZONS

Local student delegates and conference committee members are stoked about meeting teens their own age and to see how they view the world around them.  They are looking forward to broadening their horizons, learning more about cultural tolerance and helping create inclusive communities.

“I’d like to see what they think of Canada and what we can do better,” said Grade 12 Aldershot High School student Tayler Morin, 18.  He didn’t hesitate to participate when a history teacher told him last summer of the push to host a conference. “I’m excited to meet the future leaders of the world,” he said.

The conference has a number of objectives including motivating participants to develop future projects in their communities.

That last part is an important one for 17-year-old Erynn Bockler. She attended the conference in Holland and has helped organize this year’s event. She had no idea she would be a part of something like that when she went overseas two years ago and is crossing her fingers the Burlington event will encourage other teens to hold a conference in their country.  “Hopefully, the same thing will happen again,” the Grade 12 Nelson H. S. student said.

The City of Burlington is the lead organizer of the conference committing $20,000 toward it. Other sponsors include the Halton Catholic and public school boards, United Way and the Burlington Community Foundation.

Louise Allard, administrative co-ordinator of the conference, is looking forward to teens sharing ideas and experiences.  “Whenever kids are exposed to anything like this they can’t help but learn,” she said.

A big plus for the city is the expectation that visiting young kids will take home to their family and friends a positive image of the city, said Pam Belgrade of Tourism Burlington.

TOURISM OPPORTUNITY
The teens visit places like the waterfront and the Royal Botanical Gardens plus Niagara Falls. Belgrade is hoping the excitement level will turn up a few notches to show youth just how cool the city and surrounding area is.

“They’re going to see a lot of great things,” she said.

Also, the tourism group is cobbling together packages for the teens to take home highlighting all there is to see and do in Burlington, to hopefully spur a repeat visit with family and friends.

Meanwhile, there will be two keynote speakers that have participants excited.

One is Marc Kielburger. The 29-year-old is an accomplished social advocate and leadership specialist, a bestselling author and a popular speaker. He is the co-founder and chief executive director of Leaders Today, the world’s top youth leadership training organization. It delivers one-of-a-kind local and international training experiences to more than 350,000 youth every year.  He is also chief executive director of Free The Children, the world’s largest network of children helping children through education.

The other speaker is Sunjay Nath. He travels North America sharing the 10-80-10 Principle, a concept that combines best practices to help people achieve more, have greater balance and live happier.

“I’ve heard Sunjay Nath speak before and he’s amazing,” said delegate Beth Milner, 18, a Grade 12 student from Aldershot H.S.

To learn more about the conference visit http://www.burlingtonyouthconference.ca.