An unwavering passion for Southland’s future has earned two teenagers the chance to attend a national conference.

Alexis Halder, from Aparima College, and Gemma Marnane, from Central Southland College, have been selected as Southland District Council’s (SDC) representatives at the Festival for the Future in Wellington from July 26-28.

The three-day event attracts over 1200 emerging leaders from across New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region and features a diverse range of inspiring speakers, future-focused panels, hands-on workshops and a marketplace for great ideas.

Actively involved as SDC youth councillors since 2018, Ms Halder and Ms Marnane leapt at the chance to be involved with the festival.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to learn about the world we live in and meet incredible people. I’m really looking forward to broadening my connections across the country and representing Southland proudly.” Ms Halder said.

“Youth Council has become a passion of mine and I enjoy every second I spend in the meetings, workshops and discussions. It has given me incredible insights into the Southland district.

“I’m ready to immerse myself within the culture of the festival and can’t wait to bring everything back and share the inspiration gained from the speakers with our youth council group so we can make the difference in the world.” 

A member of her school’s Social Justice League, Ms Halder is dedicated to the advancement of her local community.

“We work with social issues and also sustainability which ties directly to one of the themes for the festival, climate change,” she said.  

For Ms Marnane, it was an important issue which needed increased awareness due to its continued impact on Southland.

“Climate change is due to human intervention and the stigma around our impact on the environment needs to be broken urgently. It isn’t uncontrollable as most people think,” she said.

The issues being addressed at the festival were significant and it would be a valuable platform to increase knowledge.

“Young people are the incoming tenors of Southland and the country’s prosperity and sustainability in the future,” Ms Marnane said.

“It’s less of an opportunity and more of a responsibility to make not just words suffice, resonate and promote change which is substantive, but do it in the interests of all people to break barriers and promote our communities’ improvement and desirability in as much harmony and conjunction as possible.”

Festival for the Future was founded in 2011 by Guy Ryan, who went on to be awarded Young New Zealand of the Year in 2015, and is now run by Inspiring Stories, a New Zealand charity backing young New Zealanders to change the world.

“To be surrounded by experts and being so inspired in terms of reflection, more tangible implementation and learning from the experiences of others is something which I feel I will absolutely benefit from in my life,” Ms Marnane said.

“People say I always tend to be unconventional in how I view and approach things but one of the most satisfying things to do is to see that your voice has significance once you get involved in something bigger.”