High school students of the Lakehead Public School board are learning ways to make their communities better to live in through Thunder Bay’s Crime Prevention Council.
Keirra Essex is the Indigenous student trustee in Grade 11 at Superior CVI, and tells us she’s learned a lot on different aspects of community safety.
“It’s been wonderful to help host a conference, and through the best of my abilities to think about what leadership skills the youth will take from different activities, and how to orchestrate that in a way that’ll be most beneficial to them,” says Essex.
Sierra Gaudreau is a Grade 12 Westgate student, and tells us they met to go over many issues faced, including bullying.
“We have some students who are very aware of what’s going on around them, and hopefully hearing from the other students maybe will open their eyes a bit more, they can recognize bullying. We can create a place where people can go and don’t feel the effects of bullying as great as they currently are,” adds the Westgate student.
The province says it’s spending money and resources, including an on-line survey asking for experiences with bullying, to fight the problem.
The Crime Prevention Council itself is pleased with ideas students came up with. Council spokesperson Jeff Upton pointed out how lucky he is to work with them, as they amaze him everyday.
“I encourage people to talk to the students that are in their lives, because they bring us those diverse perspectives of community, they bring us their diverse perspectives of their families, that maybe the adults or the leaders in the community aren’t looking at,” points out Upton.
Student trustees from a variety of grades will take what they came up with and share with classmates at their schools.
The recent meeting was one of many the Thunder Bay Crime Prevention Council has had with many community groups to look at ways of fostering community safety and well-being, including a number of meetings at the Italian Cultural Hall.
