The 2016/2017 Overstrand Junior Town Council has been inaugurated, with Yanna Stergianos from Hermanus High as the Junior Mayor and Izaan Newman from Gansbaai Academia as well as Monique Barkley from Northcliff House as her deputies.
Gansbaai Academia’s six Junior Council members are: Izaan Newman (Deputy Junior Mayor), Jordan Linehan, Shariefa Abrahams, Thimna Mkolo, Dehann du Plessis and Khanyiswa Pungupungu.
The inauguration of 35 junior council members, drawn from a pool of grade 10-12 learners of the area’s six high schools, took place at the Municipal Auditorium in Hermanus on 3 November 2016.
The Overstrand Junior Town Council initiative is managed by the Enlighten Education Trust in partnership with the Overstrand Municipality. During their 12-month term of office, junior council members are exposed to the work of local government, community development aimed at benefiting their respective communities, the delivery of projects and public appearance.
In her acceptance speech, the newly elected Junior Mayor, Yanna Stergianos, said the most precious of all commodities is time, and what you do all of the time matters more than what you do some of the time. “There are 365 days in a year. Every day has 24 hours. Every hour has sixty minutes – so let’s make the most of our 365 days we serve on this Junior Town Council; let’s make it count.”
Addressing the junior councillors, Deputy Mayor, Ald Dudley Coetzee, pointed out that the theme for the evening was based on being ‘Anchored in Leadership’ and started his address with a quote by Gordon B Hickley, who said: “People are looking for stability in a shaky world. They want something they can get hold of that’s firm and sure and an anchor in the midst of all this instability in which they’re living.”
He went on to say that as a parent, he knows the importance of stability and structure in the life of a child. It forms the foundation for their development and interaction with the world. It also determines how they think of themselves and develops their vision for the future.
