Features / A weekend of creativity, fun and important conversations
Brae High School pupil Beenie-Ann Wood reports from an exciting weekend in Stirling designed to help give young people a voice
IT WAS a huge opportunity as part of the Shetland’s Young Islanders Network to travel to Stirling University to attend the Big Ideas event 2024 at the end of August. An opportunity I jumped at straight away.
Shetland’s Young Islanders Network is a group of young people, who meet to discuss views and ideas around the struggles and advantages of island life. Our aim is to improve Shetland and make it a better place for our generation and the generations to come.
There are four participants in the group, and we all went on this trip. Erin Watt, S6, Brandon Kennedy, S5, both Anderson High School, Anya Hawkins, S3, Sandwick Junior High and me, Beenie-Ann Wood from S3, Brae High School, as well as our group leader Sonny Thomason.
The Big Ideas event is a gathering which young people, volunteers and workers attend from all over Scotland, to ignite sparks of creativity and togetherness. This event takes place over two days consisting of many exciting, team-based workshops and activities. There were also plenty of opportunities for our Young Islanders Network (YIN) to share our thoughts with the other YIN groups from across Scotland.
It was interesting to hear other young islanders in Scotland’s stories and views, we were able to find many similarities. Often as we are on such a small island, we can feel alone with our struggles. However, bringing all the YIN groups together highlighted we are in this as one, and there to support each other and our communities.
The event was warmly opened by Graham Dey MSP, minister for higher and further education through video, who was in person joined by the CEO of Youth Scotland, Mike Strang. All the people running the event were extremely welcoming and ensured happiness was always running high! Following the opening ceremony, our group of young people went to our first YIN gathering.
In the YIN focus groups we attended, all under 17s were together and so over 17-year-old Erin joined the older group. The group I was involved in had many interesting discussions which were helpful during the activities centred around the pros and cons of island life.
We all agreed island life meant endless beautiful scenery and a haven for nature; however, we also concluded that as small islands, we missed out on things like shops and fast-food restaurants. Personally, I feel if too much of this was brought to Shetland, it could take away its uniqueness and small-town charm, but others thought differently.
One of the main issues we all agreed on was poor public transport – things like buses and ferries can be a struggle. We also discussed reasons as to why we might want to leave Shetland, some of which being for university, job opportunities and just a change of scenery.
In Erin’s group similar discussions were happening. Erin raised the topic of how valuable our dialect is and that she thinks it should be continued to be respected and used in the future.
Throughout the weekend there were various workshops, ensuring there was something for everyone. As much as I wanted to try everything, there was only so much time to do so!
The workshops I took part in were as follows: introduction to special effects and festival make-up – who would have thought something so gruesome and something so full of sparkle would be in the same room! Nevertheless, this was one of my favourite workshops; I gained so many skills I didn’t know I would ever use and had lots of fun.
My next workshop was particularly interesting and eye-opening. It was all about LGBTQ+ throughout history which was displayed cleverly through art. It was amazing to see the progress made through time, however, it was upsetting to hear the struggles and injustices people from the LGBTQ+ community faced. I feel lucky to have been part of this session and have learnt so much.
The third workshop I attended takes us to day two, where I took part in a games workshop. This consisted of both individual and team-based competition and physical activities. This brought everyone together and created a good opportunity to make new friends and memories, which I can happily say I did.
The final workshop I took part in during this year’s Big Ideas Event was a graffiti class. I thoroughly enjoyed letting my creative side out, whilst being introduced to the different aspects and techniques graffiti is home to.
In addition to these activities, there were times when everyone gathered in the lecture room for some more fun and to learn more about the event. When evening arrived, it was time for everyone to come together and take part in big group activities.
One of my favourite aspects of the Big Ideas event was getting the opportunity to stay on the University of Stirling campus. This was extremely convenient for those coming from far and provided an opportunity to picture university life. The campus was beautiful with its vast sea of trees and glassy lakes, walking around in it felt like a dream.
I have gained so much from this experience, not only have I learnt to grasp the opportunities that come my way and feel grateful for them, but I’ve also learnt so much about me and my skills.
I’ve learnt that I can handle responsibility on a larger scale yet not let that get in the way of fun. I now can see how much my confidence has grown, a journey I have watched go from seed to flower, through owning my views and speaking to people about them proudly.
I have improved on many skills such as talking, listening and teamwork as well as gaining many other random skills I never thought I’d come across, like how to apply a worm to a wax wound and writing in graffiti letters!
The weekend was the perfect balance of both creativity and fun as well as important conversation. This led to building relationships and influencing positive change amongst young people in Scotland.
Through this experience I have made so many forever memories and met so many wonderful and inspiring people. I hope for this trip to be the first of many more to come as part of Shetland’s Young Islanders Network, and so goodbye to Big Ideas 2024, see you next year!
