Student explores right and wrong | Noosa News | Local News in Noosa

Jess Mumme won the Noosa Heads Club judging of Lions Youth of the Year.

Geoff Potternd

Sunshine Beach High School Year 12 student Jess Mumme was determined to gain public speaking experience. When she could not find a debating team, her teacher suggested entering the Lions Youth of the Year Quest.

The Lions Youth of the Year Quest is a project of the Lions Clubs of Australia to encourage student interest in leadership and community involvement (see Education on page 10 for futher details).

Jess won the Noosa Heads Club judging of Lions Youth of the Year last week after coming up with two impromptu speeches and her final speech, which expressed youths’ passion to have fun.

She will compete in the zone final at Pomona tomorrow.

Here are extracts from Jess’s prepared speech:

What’s right? What’s wrong? What’s good? What’s bad? What’s fun and what is not fun?

These are the unaware questions we ask ourselves each and every day. We question ourselves and our actions. We make decisions which shape and define the person that we are going to become. My number one hobby is simple and easy, it’s just I love having fun.

My talk is centred on the youth of today, what we define as fun and how society perceives us. How we are accepted or how we are unaccepted into society. I will refer to myself and my own personal boundaries, relating to my idea of fun.

So why do youths break rules or experiment with things? A minority of youths and adolescents across Australia are unaware of the serious consequences of their actions: I see P-platers drag racing or speeding down the street, or youths smoking or drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.

They wake up the next day not remembering what they have done. There are many significant reasons why youths break rules or experiment – things such as peer pressure, bullying, emotional or psychological problems lead you to trying new things or taking dangerous risks.

But I believe a very significant reason that Australian youths go outside their own boundaries or do things which surprise people is because they do not have guidelines to follow.

Everybody needs some sort of guide in life, that’s why we have laws in place. But if you’re having fun and take risks and it goes too far, it can turn into something that you may regret.

Parents, siblings, relatives, teachers, celebrities and peers all influence and guide me in the decisions I make.

I believe that success comes from following guidelines or from a set goal. Everybody deserves to know the difference between right and wrong. The youth of today is a group of kids who are making the most of all new technology, living their lives and following from an example.

I have set a goal in my life and it is to be happy, healthy and successful. I’m hoping to succeed. But how will I do that?

I take leadership, I wake up at 6am every morning and struggle out of bed to school – that isn’t fun. But thinking about going to school to create a future after it – that’s fun for me.

Deciding what I want to do in my life is fun, it’s exciting. I like having my own boundaries, it still allows me to explore my own fun without hurting or affecting anybody.

I’m all about fun and making memories and taking some risks but I know within myself what my own boundaries are.

I know what’s right and what’s wrong and I think the majority of youths today know it too.