Together for Humanity Student Youth Forum

This year was the inaugural year for the Together for Humanity Youth Forum in Victoria. The conference is designed to bring together secondary school students from across the state to be able to speak about and listen to experts in the fields of connectedness and inclusivity.

Kolbe Catholic College was able to send Ruta Alai, Mannat Kaur, Kiara Samtar, Mary Ann Shemiss and Ardelina Zinghini, captains and vice captains for Community, Wellbeing and Faith, to engage with like-minded students and present their ideas to community experts.

Following is the conference from our students’ perspective:

On the 18th of July, the Year 11 and 12 Community, Faith and Wellbeing Captains attended the Together for Humanity Conference held at Melbourne University. Together for Humanity is an educational, non-profit organisation that works with school communities to combat prejudice and teaches students effective strategies to deal with differences within school communities and the wider community. The theme of this year’s conference was diversity and connection, and so we decided to focus on the educational and employment difficulties faced by refugees who come to Australia and find it hard to learn English, resulting in a limitation of connectedness within our community. Diversity and intercultural understanding were explored throughout the day in various school presentations, activities, and discussions. Students were also given the appropriate resources to note-take and brainstorm other topics of concern.

All the students learnt a great deal from their participation, and we look forward to participating again in 2024.

Mr Anthony Schepis
Curriculum Leader (Innovation and Growth)