Rotorua's young representatives are on a mission to create a more positive environment for the city's youth.
Members of the Rotorua District Youth Council and MP Todd McClay's Youth Advisory Group have named teen drinking, drugs and a lack of education as top issues facing local young people.
Students Kieran Gainsford, Tania Tapsell and Atarangi Manley want to change all that.
Kieran, who is the head boy at Rotorua Lakes High School, is one of the newest members of the Youth Advisory Group and says he wants to get students excited about education.
"Education is a big thing and I want to get students more involved."
The 17-year-old said he wanted the advisory group to discuss ways to encourage students to want to stay at school.
"If they're excited about learning they'll want to go to school."
Kieran said the committee was a good opportunity for students to have their voices heard. Mr McClay voted on issues that affected youth and it was important he heard their views.
Miss Tapsell, a student at Waiariki Institute of Technology, was on the committee last year and has returned as chair.
She said although they hadn't made any solid decisions about what topics they would cover this year, she definitely wanted to talk about the Alcohol Reform Bill.
Miss Tapsell said teen drinking was an issue but it wasn't specifically a youth problem and she wanted to highlight that fact.
"I don't think we should be targeting youth specifically."
Being on the committee would allow her to voice her strong opinions on the issue. She said drugs was another key issue she wanted to cover.
The 18-year-old said she had benefited from her committee experience last year and she was excited about helping carry on the opportunity for other youth.
"It's a great opportunity to provide a voice for youth in Rotorua."
She said she was looking forward to a productive year. "It's a diverse group, there's all sorts of ethnicities. It's going to be a heck of a lot of fun."
Mr McClay said he was keen to hear the committee's thoughts on issues they thought were affecting youth. The MP formed his first advisory committee last year and said he had found it extremely useful.
"It helped me understand more about the pressures facing young people, which was largely the reason I decided to continue with the committee this year," he said.
The calibre of applicants for the committee this year had been outstanding. "We've got representatives from most schools [in the electorate]."
Youth worker Raki Wiringi said forming youth groups in Rotorua where kids could be positively influenced by strong leaders was key.
"For me, what I deal with often is kids with a lack of identity."
Mr Wiringi said youths these days were very cliquey and new technologies like Facebook and Twitter were setting unhealthy precedents for behaviour.
Youths were being influenced by seeing their peers posting photos and comments about things like partying and drinking.
"Social interaction with peers carries more weight than with parents, teachers and coaches and that needs to be looked at," Mr Wiringi said.
While starting youth groups might have seemed like an "old school" idea, Mr Wiringi said it was working well for the E Oho youth group he ran. "We're a group that's inclusive."
Mr Wiringi said he taught youth to see value in their communities.
"We're teaching them leadership skills and how to plan, manage and deliver positive community events."
Youth councillor Atarangi Manley said in her role this year she wanted to focus on holding events where Rotorua kids could showcase their talents.
Youth Week runs from today until May 29 and Rotorua has a jam-packed schedule of events to celebrate it.
The youth councillors have organised a special Band2Getha event for Thursday's Night Market to showcase Rotorua's talented musicians.
"We wanted to hold a concert to promote and celebrate youth and it also coincided with New Zealand Music Month," Atarangi said.
The 18-year-old, a student at the Rotorua School for Young Parents, says a main concern for her is the lack of safe environments available for local youth to hang out.
"Youth don't have any safe and controlled environments where they can hang out and just be themselves, that's one of the things I want to work on."
Rotorua District Council youth projects officer Jill Campbell said Youth Week was about celebrating young people.
This year's theme is Step up, Be heard, Take Responsibility, Be Youth.
Mrs Campbell encouraged as many people to get involved as possible.
"We really need to do more promoting and get Youth Week known better," she said.
Meet Rotorua's youth representatives
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