Millie Duke and Kyle Baker are from the Fife Our Bright Future project. They were part of a group of young people from projects working in Scotland that visited the Scottish Youth Parliament in December 2018. Here are their reflections.
Our recent visit to the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) in Edinburgh helped us gain a greater understanding about the SYP and the other projects that were represented at the visit. It was interesting to learn how it is run and how people are making a difference.
We had the opportunity to meet other young people who were very enthusiastic and motivated to improve their communities; including people from the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s programme of Young Leaders and two post-graduate students from One Cherry (part of The Environment Now). One Cherry is trying to bring second hand shopping into the fast-paced retail world of online buying, for a more sustainable and ethical generation of consumers.
It was our first experience meeting people who were coming together to discuss new ideas and share their ambitions. It was incredibly inspiring to hear their stories and offer our own. The day gave us a good insight into how other projects are attempting to change the way we see the world. We enjoyed hearing from other projects, such as the Young Leaders, who spoke about their goals and aspirations and helped us understand the process of kick-starting a new project.
We were welcomed on the day by SYP member Calum McArthur. We heard about how the SYP works and the campaigns that they get behind. This year the big focus is on access to transport; which is a real challenge in rural areas. This was also our opportunity to explain our involvement in the Our Bright Future Level Two programme based in Fife. We talked about the opportunities we have had as part of our project, which helps young people enter the rural sector and become skilled and successful in areas such as horticulture and forestry. We were able to share how important the programme is to us and how accessible it has made our education, training and work experience; something that isn’t available to many young people.
We thoroughly enjoyed the experience of speaking on behalf of Our Bright Future as ambassadors for the programme. It was a good feeling knowing that the others that were present were using our knowledge as a means to improve their ways of working, should they need it, and how genuinely supportive everyone was.
The day was a good experience and a brilliant insight into other projects. We would love to attend any other events in which we were needed and would encourage anyone to do so if they have the opportunity!