IN primary school, I learned that there were a few prerequisite conditions needed for a seed to grow. It must have warmth, moisture and air. With these conditions present, the seed would be able to transform itself into a fruitful plant (Ha, puns).

Fortunately, I – the ‘no longer a Science’ student- will not be talking about germination. Instead, I’ll share my experience at the Queen’s College Students Conference (QCSC), held on February 8 and 9.

This conference was created by the Old Students Association – New York Chapter, in 2014, while Queen’s College was celebrating its 170th anniversary. Since then, it has grown from strength to strength. As expected, this year hosted the largest number of participants- a whopping 250 students from 11 different secondary schools.

The first day of the conference usually has concurrent workshops following the themes of leadership, career guidance, the creative arts science and technology and business. It functions as a great segway for the second day.

Now something called ‘the innovation challenge’ occurred on the second and final day of the conference. Here, groups of students were required to identify issues in their schools or communities and craft their own solutions.

Befittingly, the entire conference is organised under the theme: “Empowering and inspiring youth for the future.”

Quite a few of the groups this year decided to tackle self-esteem and bullying. Another group decided to formulate a solution for the lack of clean, running water in their school and another opted to foster camaraderie in the school through clubs and social activities, while encouraging the development and sustenance of the school’s infrastructure.

Notably, each group crafted their project pitches specifically to cater for the unmet needs in their schools or communities. They all conceptualised their solutions and with a bit of mentoring, they were able to present their solutions to the identified issues.

What was most pleasing for me was what I would call the ‘fruits’ of the innovation challenge. The teams were well-positioned to implement their project ideas to tackle the problems and even a step further, some were even given a means of starting their projects.

This feature has been part of the conference for some time now, and it parallels the recently initiated Youth Innovation Programme of Guyana (YIPoG), which also requires young people to create solutions to their problems, in their communities.

While the conference could have only targeted a few schools this time, its impact was made nevertheless. And I shouldn’t speak for everyone, but I can ascertain that some positive impact, no matter how minute, was made on each and every participant.

I can recall that the members of the old students association stressed, “We came with the intention of planting seeds for tomorrow.” Those seeds were planted within us three years ago, and that sense of responsibility was embedded in us to give back to the conference that helped to shape us.

For the past three years, I’ve been a participant of this conference and I have benefitted tremendously from the career guidance and leadership workshops I attended. But for the fourth conference which was held recently, I was actually a workshop presenter alongside three other current students. I can say we are a testament to these seeds being planted.

YIPoG, on the other hand, was only initiated in 2017 but was more wide-reaching, targeting youth in all 10 the administrative regions.

Twenty-four groups and 13 STEM Clubs from the 10 Administrative Regions- all comprising of youth – were presented with a total of $50 million in government grants under the Science, Technology, Engineering, Architecture, Agriculture, Arts, Anthropology, Mathematics (STEAM) initiative of the YIPoG. The young people had the freedom to conceptualise projects in any of these fields.

The programme aimed to decrease unemployment amongst young Guyanese, engage youth in the development of a Green State and creative thinking through the application STEAMS and develop a network between partners that work in the field of creative thinking and youth development.

It is with a staunch belief that I say that events like the students’ conference and the YIPoG are excellent catalysts for development. They plug youth involvement and garner solutions from this grassroots-level, emphasising the role of human agency.

Additionally, it fosters a sense of responsibility in youth so that when they are the leaders, they would have already garnered experience in creating solutions for local problems.

There is a myriad of ole sayings that have one general message: Youth are the future. Shaping our minds will only impact the wider society. Giving us a platform will undoubtedly let us shine.