The Columbia City Council unanimously approved the formation of a youth advisory council at its meeting on Monday. The goal for the youth council is to spur greater youth involvement in city government as well as develop leadership skills for youth. The youth council will serve in an advisory role for the city council and can study and make recommendations on youth related issues. Sloane Scott is a junior at Battle High School who was involved in getting the youth advisory council started. She realized there were many good ideas from students that weren’t being heard by the council.
“I wanted to know why those (student) ideas weren’t being taken into consideration and I felt that it was an age thing so to overcome that limitation I thought that a youth advisory council would be the perfect platform for their voices being heard,” Scott said.
Councilmember Ian Thomas said having a younger group of people looking at the issues affecting them will be a benefit for the city.
“This commission will have a positive impact on the decision making process, will bring this additional perspective to bare, and I think crack open some problems that maybe some of us in our generation are unable to see our way through,” Thomas said.
The Youth Advisory Council will be made up of between 15 and 21 members from any of the high schools in Columbia. Members will serve for one to three year terms depending on their graduation date. The youth advisory council will meet once a month throughout the school year.
