By Robert Andre Emmanuel
Independent Senator Kiz Johnson says an upcoming expo is an opportunity to connect youth and their families with social organisations aimed at encouraging positive personal development.
This weekend, Government House will once again host the two-day Youth Future Leaders Opportunity Expo (YOUTH FLOE) event.
The theme for this year’s event is “Social Clubs Connecting with Families for Positive Development” and is part of Commonwealth celebrations, featuring various service clubs and organisations.
“We see this as an opportunity to get youth involved in productive activities, so we’re talking about the Boys Brigade and Girls Brigade,” Senator Johnson said.
“Last year, it was really good, but we wanted it to be even bigger and better…it is one of the rare moments where the lawn of the Government House is actually open to the public of Antigua and Barbuda,” she added.
This year, the event will feature UK consultant and former Assistant Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II, Stuart Shilson, who is expected to speak to young people about growing leadership excellence.
“That will be able to help the leaders of service clubs and organisations to grow themselves in leadership,” Senator Johnson explained.
Other speakers will include Koren Norton of Norton Consulting, who is expected to help youth build social skills, and Senator Johnson and Kadeem Joseph who will allow participants to explore real-life scenarios through creative expression, while sharing their ideas on various topics.
“One of the things that happens is that we make plans for the youth, but we don’t involve their voices, so we are going to be engaging with them and tackling some of the challenges and help them provide solutions and some of our mentorship on both days,” Senator Johnson said.
She added that parents are encouraged to attend with their children to help build a connection with service organisations.
“If the parents aren’t there, then it’s going to turn into a social club and then that will defeat the purpose of the activity,” she said.
“The purpose of the activity is to help parents understand that the Girl Guides still exist, the Scout Association still exists, GoodHumans268 — all of these are organisations that have decided to be part of the day one and two activities because they recognise that they want to promote what they do and the services they offer.”
