YMCA Youth Parliament 2012 will be the 17th YMCA managed program to be staged in South Australia, strongly supported by the state government through the Office for Youth as well as the SA Parliament House and the SA Law Foundation. Youth Parliament has educated around 1,000 young people in the SA Parliamentary system, voting procedures, parliamentary etiquette, public speaking and bill writing in a professional and exciting environment.
APPLICATION & SIGNUP
Applications are closing soon for 2012 - get in NOW!
Any young person residing in South Australia within the age range 16-25 can apply to participate in the Youth Parliament Program. You may apply as an individual or as a member of a team by completing an Application Form. Individual applicants will be allocated to a team by the Taskforce.
YMCA Youth Parliament 2012 Application Form DOWNLOAD HERE
IMPORTANT DATES
These are the dates we are proposing for the 2012 program.
Applications Open: NOW
Applications Close: Friday 24th February 2012
Launch Day: Saturday 31st March 2012
Training Weekend: Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd April 2012
Parliament Residential Week: Sunday 8th – Friday 13th July 2012
TRAINING
Youth Parliament participants work in teams of 6 to 8 to actively research and develop a Youth bill. Participants complete 2-3 days of training, as well as attending local team meetings to prepare for Parliament Week. The training covers Bill writing, Parliamentary process and etiquette, debating, public speaking and working with the media.
Opportunities to complete credits for SACE and Duke of Edinburgh are available. This is a great Research Project topic too!
PARLIAMENT WEEK
The program culminates in a residential camp for Parliament Week during which Bills are debated and amended at Parliament House. In addition to the debating in Parliament House there will be a full-on recreation program and loads of fun.
If you want to follow us, go to our Facebook site “YMCA SA Youth Parliament 2011″ where we will keep you up to date with the events as they unfold.
PROGRAM COST
The YMCA believes strongly in providing a program that is accessible. The subsidised program cost of $350 per person will include all training, accommodation, food, etc.
$ 350 per person, GST inc
$ 2800 per team of eight (8), GST inc
TASKFORCE
Taskforce is the group of young people responsible for organising Youth Parliament each year. It is mostly made up of previous participants in the program.
The 2012 taskforce has been recruited!
Taskforce has 5 areas: Training, Support, Operations, Recreation and Public Relations & Advocacy.
Training coordinates the Training Weekend where participants learn about the parliamentary process, as well as how the sitting week in Parliament is going to run.
Support take care of all participant needs. Part of the Support team are the male and female Support Officers who are like the fairy godmother and father of the Parliament Week
Operations are like the YP ninjas – you might not see them, but they’re racing around, making sure everything runs smoothly.
Recreation arrange all the fun stuff outside of parliament – in the past they’ve organised laser skirmish and dance parties during the week.
Public Relations & Advocacy get us out in the public eye. They are also concerned with making sure your voice is heard by the right people.
The Youth Governor is also a part of the Taskforce team – it is his or her responsibility to be the voice and face of the program, representing the participants and often carries Public Relation and Media responsibilities