Last May, 90 youth from around the Columbia Basin gathered in Kimberley for the 2023 Basin Youth Leadership Summit, delivered by the Columbia Basin Trust Basin Youth Network. The goal of the summit is get youth together to talk about the future of the region, while they pick up valuable life skills along the way.

At the summit, youth grew their leadership skills, expressed their opinions and developed ideas and action plans to take back to their communities. It’s an opportunity for youth to connect with peers from other communities that they may not otherwise have the chance to connect and collaborate with.

Organizers plan for the event to be fun and interactive.

The 2023 event also included Our Trust Our Future sessions. Here, the youth could tell the Trust what they think is important for the future of the Basin, and how they think the Trust could support these long-term goals.

Youth were particularly glad to attend the 2023 conference as the every-two-years event had to be cancelled during the pandemic and this was the first one since 2018.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to attend the 2023 youth leadership summit in Kimberley. We learned about the Columbia Basin and what the Trust does, and I made new friends. I really enjoyed the Our Trust Our Future exercise,” said Sawyer Popovitch, Kimberley Youth Network.

“One word that I would use to describe the future of the Columbia Basin would be ‘hopeful,’ because it seems like there are going to be so many new and exciting opportunities, especially for youth in this area,” said Lydia Kalawsky, Rossland Youth Action Network.

The Columbia Basin Trust currently supports local youth networks in 27 different communities.

READ: 100 youth attend the Basin Youth Network 2018 Leadership Summit in Kimberley

READ: Kootenay youth invited to register for CBT Youth Leadership Summit

carolyn.grant@kimberleybulletin.com
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