To encourage youth in the community to build connections and leadership traits, the Newmarket Youth Leadership Group in partnership with the Newmarket Chamber of Commerce held a conference on Nov. 17 at the Newmarket Community Centre and Lions Hall.
Called “Empowering Youth Leaders: A Networking Conference,” it hosted three local speakers to touch on their journeys in life and thoughts on leadership with about 30 local youth in attendance.
The speakers were Southlake Regional Health Centre’s Dr. Christopher Gannage, Neighbourhood Network’s Erin Cerenzia, and Newmarket African Caribbean Canadian Association’s Matthew Palomino.
The conference also acted as an opportunity to network, something Newmarket Youth Leadership Group President Jessica Sun said many high school students don’t realize can be beneficial for them until later in life.
“They don’t recognize how important networking is until later in their careers,” she said. “It’s helpful to start meeting mentors and professionals in careers they’re interested in right now.”
The Newmarket Youth Leadership Group said hosting a networking event targeted at local youth between the ages of 13 and 18 would fill the gap with not many opportunities for high school students in the area to get out and network.
That’s why it was so important for them to have community leaders like Gannage, Cerenzia, and Palomino be involved, because it could leave a real impact on those in attendance.
“We wanted to show them that a lot of people high up who have expertise in their field are also really open to mentoring and helping you on your path,” Sun said. “We thought this could give them an accessible opportunity.”
Sun said when deciding their three speakers, they had their members fill out a survey to describe the types of community leaders they’d be interested in hearing from and they wanted to have a diverse panel.
“We wanted three very different speakers who would be experts in their fields,” she said.
The Newmarket Youth Leadership Group hopes to continue this because of the lack of networking for high school students with an eye on professional development.
“We’re hoping we can do this more regularly because we think it’s very engaging for youth,” said Sun. “We think this can be impactful and successful in our community.”