During the first week of the holidays Krystal Walsh attended the UN Youth Conference in Auckland.

This is a conference that is spread over 4 days and involved 350 students from around New Zealand. We were put into 22 different rōpū groups based off our application. In our groups we were given an issue and had the task of coming up with 2-3 statements to put in the Youth Declaration. This document then goes to the government, local government, and decision makers around Aotearoa. It is a way for our voices as youth to be heard. I was placed into the Culture and Diversity rōpū. In my group we talk about four topics, these were Arts and Culture, Racism and Prejudice, Multiculturalism and a multicultural society; and Representation.

Day one involved the opening ceremony, group discussions on civics education, and  Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We also had a presentation on Tuakana Tenia. 

Day two we had outreach. Here we went to the museum and Labour party MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan  spoke to us. 

Day three we had an identity and intersectionality panel and workshop in the morning, we worked on our statements for the declaration and we had inter-rōpū time which meant we got to share our ideas in more detail and get feedback.

Day four, our last day, we had an agreeability survey were we got to rank every groups statements, we had our last rōpū time which was discussing how we would present our statements to guests (our group did a skit). We then had workshops, I listened to Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick and then we talked about issues that we were passionate about. After that we presented our Declaration to our guests and had the closing ceremony. One of the guests we had was MP Michael Wood. He spoke to us at the end and said he would take the Declaration to the Prime Minister, which was such an encouraging thing to hear. 

Overall I had an amazing experience,  I learned so much from everyone it was great to hear some new opinions from people. This event was run by the youth of Aotearoa and everyone who organised it  were volunteers, they made our well-being their number one priority.  Without any of them this event would have never happened, they gave us a platform for our voices to be heard. And I would just like to thank every one of them for that. 

It was truly an awesome experience and I hope to go again next year. If you have the chance to sign up for it I would totally recommend it. 

I would like to give a massive thanks to Ms Signal-Cambridge, without her I would have never have heard of this amazing opportunity or had the courage to go.