GLENDON – About 40 students from across the province gathered in Edmonton to share their ideas and perspectives on education directly with Alberta’s Education Minister.
Taylor Martin, a Grade 10 student from Glendon School, is one of the few who were selected to serve on the Minister’s Youth Council during the 2023-24 school year.
Martin decided to apply for the council position, representing Northern Lights Public Schools, after being introduced to the program by her teacher Ms. Joly.
“The more I looked into it and what it would entail, the further it interested me because I'm already involved in my school’s student leadership group. It's a step up to where I can make that much more of an impact,” said Martin, adding that the decision was made easier with the support of her family.
Heading into the first youth council conference, Martin’s focus was on bringing more quality to rural schools, more opportunities for rural students to volunteer and take part in bigger school trips, and bettering the Alberta curriculum for students overall.
The Grade 10 student believes that listening to students' perspectives is crucial, citing the difference between how adults look at the situation versus students who are actually going through the system.
“I think it’s important that we have a say in how we can improve it and get better for future students,” she said.
And from Oct. 13-15, Martin got her first opportunity to do just that.
Over the three days, members of the youth council met for the first time, took workshops on public speaking, brainstormed improvements for Alberta’s education system and split up into groups to work on presentations.
On Sunday, groups made up of four to five youth had an opportunity to present to Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides.
Martin’s group presented on the topic of teacher retention and recruitment. Her group focused on how they can bring more teachers to rural schools.
“Which is awesome because those teachers and educators from the larger centres coming out to our rural schools, would bring our students just that much larger of a perspective,” Martin said.
“We had considered ideas like paying back student debt and student loans if they come out to these centres of minority schools or rural schools or those in smaller communities.”
Martin’s group also shared the importance of supporting teachers. “How can we work to better that for teachers so that they want to stay? That way, we can retain teachers in all schools across this province.”
Overall, Martin says the experience was wonderful. She enjoyed learning from all the diverse opinions from her peers who came from across the province and felt like their voices were heard.
“The genuine interest that the minister showed each of us definitely tells us that he was taking our points into consideration, which is awesome that our voices will have an impact and meaning,” she said.
Preparing for the next conference
The Minister’s Youth Council will reconvene from Feb. 2-4 in a virtual format – and there is a lot to prepare for, said Martin.
“I'll definitely come to the table with more points, and I'll be discussing further with different educators and the students in my [school] division,” she said.
Martin will be meeting with her school’s principal and vice principal in the near future to discuss ways to gather the thoughts and opinions of Glendon students and teachers.
“We might be putting out a survey, or that sort of thing, just so that we can get a wide variety of ideas in one simple format... I'd like to bring their perspectives to it so I can be a voice for our division and our area,” said Martin.
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