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Its great to be young!
Blog: What its like to attend a SpunOut.ie Youth Board meeting.
It’s 3.30am and I’m sitting in my living room watching Star Trek on TV. I know I’m tired but I’m too excited to sleep. Yes, even at the ripe old age of 17, I still get excited at the prospect of another road trip with my dear old mother. The sheer joy of sitting in a car for near four and a half hours, arguing over the horrid voice of the Sat Nav and drinking can after can of Red Bull is enough to keep me from my bed.
It’s just another one of those great times in your life you get to say “It’s great to be young!” I was invited to one of those prestigious and exciting Youth Board Meetings for the spectacular, thrilling and all around good guys, SpunOut.ie.
And no, that wasn’t a cheap plug for the site; it really is spectacular and thrilling.
My name is Michelle and I live right up the tippy-top of the country in Donegal. And of course, as usual, all the good things in life are four and something hours away in a car. Today, it’s in Dublin. But I love Dublin, so I don’t mind the trek. Neither does my mother, who has always been there for me, always right beside me on all my most insane adventures. I was so happy to get the invite from the guys at SpunOut.ie, too think I’d get to be a part of all this was just amazing.
Lets skip ahead a few hours, the car journey is not really on the agenda for this little article (*sigh*).
After trekking halfway around Dublin, arguing blindly at the Sat Nav (nicknamed Stacy), we finally found Emily (SpunOut.ie’s Youth Participation Officer) herself, standing outside the house where the meeting was going to be held, decked out in her limited edition SpunOut.ie tee. Right off the mark, I knew Emily was the kind of person we all hope of meeting in our teenage years, a real go getter, a real voice. She was just so lovely and bubbly.
Down a few stairs into one of the back rooms and the promise of tea and coffee was certainly fulfilled. I don’t drink tea or coffee myself, but I got the urge to on this occasion.
All around the room were lovely smiley faces, everyone happy to meet new people and get stuck in on making SpunOut.ie better. After the meet and great, and a few fun “get to know you” games, Emily decided it was time to get stuck in. Here we go, I thought, this is going to be just like school. She even had a flip chart, and markers! Oh well, at least I could catch up on the sleep I’d missed the night before.
How wrong I was!
It was so refreshing to be among people, who not only share the same ideals and opinions as you, but are the same age. As we all nibbled at the M&Ms and biscuits, we all witted on about the things we wanted to change, the things we wanted to add and the things we wanted to make better. Before we knew it, we had completely dissected the workings of the site and as a group pieced it back together with fresh and new ideas.
Nobody’s idea was put down, and for the first time everyone had a voice. This is the amazing thing about SpunOut.ie; people my age now have a voice for their long lived opinions. Finally, we can say what we want and not feel like we are a bunch of idiots because of what someone else thinks. And we got pizza too! (*giggle*)
I don’t care what part of the country these meetings are in or how far I have to travel. I am so happy and dare say it, proud to be a part of this organisation, and for that I’d travel any distance. To help makes life easier for teens, to finally have a place where you don’t have to feel ashamed or lonely or stupid, where you can be yourself. I know all this might seem very sentimental and icky, but it’s true.
Life isn’t about the destination, it’s about the journey!
By: Michelle McHugh
For more information on the Youth Board and how you can get involved give Emily a shout at emily@spunout.ie or check out the Get Involved section of the site.
