Cole Foad, 14, said that his top priorities to get across in his two minutes in the historic debating chamber were about the perils of social media and boredom. He will be presenting to an audience of more than 300 people in the chamber as well as Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
‘It’s a very important topic in Guernsey, and it was quite sad doing research on it. In the last few years, there has been a 50% rise in mental health cases across ages five to 16,’ he said. ‘So I think it’s such an important matter, and we need to highlight it in parliament and show everyone who we are, but also what our vision is and how we can progress.’
He has been busy making multiple drafts of his speech, wanting to avoid being cut off by ‘Mr Speaker’.
Cole said he was ‘honoured’ to be representing both the island and Les Varendes at Parliament. He praised the school’s new policy of not allowing phones to be used during the school day and said that he loved seeing his fellow students having conversations in the social areas, rather than scrolling on their phones.
The Youth Commission ran a competition for the Commons opportunity where students between the ages of 11 and 18 presented a five-minute speech on why youth funding is essential, followed by an interview. Cole got the victory call from his mum while in the car with his dad that same day.
‘We were cheering and everything, it was amazing,’ he said.
Hayley Winter from the youth engagement team lead at the Youth Commission said: ‘He blew us away. His speech was absolutely incredible. He really, truly earned this opportunity and I cannot wait to see him deliver his speech.’
Having started work on his GCSEs, Cole is now thinking about what he would like to take for A-levels, with history and politics at the top of his list. He had been considering making a career in corporate law, but now says that the Youth Parliament experience had opened his eyes to more possibilities.
‘After doing this, I realised how much I love advocating for such important topics, so that could be something I might pursue, but definitely somewhere in law or politics,’ he said.
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