When Lismore teen Ivy sent in her Heywire entry she didn’t think anything would come of it. As an end of day English class activity on inspirations, she felt anything but inspired. But her short story, that shows that in a town ravaged by floods inspiration can be as simple as fixing your own guitar, has opened the door for Ivy to participate and represent our part of Australia in the annual Heywire Summit in Canberra.
In February, Ivy will be one of 39 young people from regional Australia participating in the Heywire Summit. They will be working together in groups to develop ideas to make positive change in their communities. Over 5 days the young people will have the opportunity to share their inspirations and develop projects that could be brought to life through the Heywire grants program.
As well as meeting and working with other inspiring young people from across regional Australia, Ivy is looking forward to talking with some of our Members of Parliament. While unsure who that might be, Ivy said it would be pretty cool to meet Penny Wong and maybe even the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
And what project would Ivy like to bring to life? An instrument library, so people who couldn’t afford to buy instruments could still learn and play them.
To learn more about the Heywire Program visit the ABC’s Heywire website
