His Worship, Mayor Derek Corrigan introduced Youth Week,
an annual event to celebrate and acknowledge the contributions of young
people to the community. Following is the text of the Mayor’s remarks:
“Twenty-four years ago, youth across
the Lower Mainland asked why there wasn’t a day to celebrate youth. Youth
then asked why not a week rather than a day. This simple idea is what started
it all. Youth Week is now an international celebration. Here in British
Columbia, Youth Week takes place during the first week of May and is a
fun-filled week of interaction and celebration intended to build a strong
connection between young people and their communities and to profile youth
issues, accomplishments and diversity.
Wherever Youth Week is celebrated,
the idea behind it is the same: Young people are important and their
contributions need to be acknowledged and celebrated.
Youth are creative,
motivated and full of excellent ideas that will improve our community and our
world. The youth we’re honouring here tonight demonstrate that fact. We have
a diverse bunch of young people gathered here, who volunteer in many areas
and capacities in their community. Some sit on clubs and committees in
their schools, including for example, Student Government and Social Justice
groups. Others focus on specific causes such as: math and literacy
education; finding solutions for youth homelessness and poverty; celebrating
diversity; promoting environmental initiatives; and supporting mental health
challenges.
There are
representatives here who help seniors learn computer skills through the Tech
Easy program and have expanded the GivingFicus platform, allowing youth
across the community to learn from seniors – bridging the gap between
generations. We have youth who are on the Youth Voice Committee, who
organized a leadership conference to encourage other youth to get involved in
their community. And, we have youth who have contributed to initiatives
involving global issues: such as, poverty, water irrigation systems in Nepal
and the Educate Girls Network in Liberia.
A diverse bunch indeed.
But what is common among all of these nominees is that they care about their
city and community, and they want to be actively involved and make a
difference. If this is what our youth of today are involved with in Burnaby,
I am excited to see what our adults of tomorrow will do.
The Burnaby Youth Voice
Committee has created citizenship awards to recognize young people in Burnaby
who have volunteered their time and skills, and made a difference in our
community. I would like to take the time to recognize the following youth who
have been nominated for a citizenship award:
Youth Citizenship Award
Winners:
Ø Angela Lin
Ø Andre Cristo Wong
Ø Angelina Ge
Ø Bill Hsu
Ø Chaewon Song
Ø Deni Loverro
Ø Gabby Alvarez-Penaherrera
Ø Hana Lalani
Ø Jasper Chan
Ø Jennifer Phan
Ø Jessica Xu
Ø Laura Lu
Ø Leticia Christi Noukep
Wowkam
Ø Maiya Kazuta
Ø Mandy Kwan
Ø Maya Arradaza
Ø Melissa Wang
Ø Mina Garlick
Ø Phyllis Cherng
Ø Sameer Esmail
Ø Stanley Wu
Ø Victor (Ricky) Yin
Ø Victoria Bui
Ø Virginia Bui
Ø Xiaolong (Oliver) Pan
Due to the amazing work
done by so many of the youth here today, for the first time we will be
awarding 6 youth instead of five with a $100 bursary. These youth have gone
above and beyond to make a difference in Burnaby, while maintaining personal,
academic and extracurricular involvement.
Please join me in
appreciation and recognition of:
Ø Alyana Lalani
Ø Amanda Lee
Ø Andrea Sugue
Ø Justin Mah
Ø Maria Preoteasa
Ø Paniz Najjarrezaparast
This year’s Burnaby Youth
Week logo contest winner is Phoebe Qian, a Grade 7 student from
South Slope Elementary School. She wins a sweatshirt with her logo on it and
a $75 prize.”
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