Innisfail youth will have the opportunity to showcase their ideas and talents and to be informed about the different opportunities in their community this week at the first Innisfail Teen Trade Fair.
A group of students from the Innisfail Junior Senior High School (IHS) students union, the ACE Youth Leaders, and Big Brothers Big Sisters, have been working with IHS staff, and staff from the Town of Innisfail to design and host the fair.
It will take place at IHS on June 17, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and students from IHS, Innisfail Middle School, and St. Marguerite Bourgeoys School will all be taken through the fair during the day.
“We started the idea of the trade fair because we heard from youth that they wanted opportunities to be heard and for their skills and talents to be shown,” said Denise Bouw, a facilitator with the Town of Innisfail.
“They also want to see where they can contribute to their community through volunteer and work opportunities.”
Students themselves completed most of the planning and groundwork for the trade fair, said Bouw, adding that this is something they had wanted and asked for.
Kayla Layden, one of the Grade 12 students on the planning committee, said that she was participating because she thinks that a lot of students don’t know what is going on in their community.
“They (students) always say we don’t have anything to do. But we want to help show them what they can do,” said Layden.
Another student involved in the project contributed by designing the logo for the event and said that the student involvement in the project provided a lot of inspiration for his design.
“The I in the logo stands for Innisfail and the T stands for teen and the two arrows circling them represent the exchange of ideas, ideas being represented by two light bulbs in the logo,” said David Ly, a Grade 10 student on the committee.
In discussions about the trade fair students expressed what they were interested in hearing about.
“We were looking for participation from anyone in the community that might have opportunities for youth,” said Bouw.
So far the committee has had great response from a number of social services groups and there will be several displays put on by Alberta Health Services that will be focused on youth needs.
The trade fair will also feature booths by groups such as the Hospital Volunteer Services, the Innisfail Public Library, the RCMP, the Rotary Club, Jeannette’s Music Studio, Joy’s School of Dance, and Lindl Music Studio, but the organizing committee has also been trying to encourage youth to set up their own booths to communicate their ideas and passions with other students.
