Laragh Corcoran is a teenager attending Our Lady's Secondary School in County Monaghan. She explains what International Youth Day means to her.
What is International Youth Day?
International Youth Day is a day created by the United Nations, and is celebrated annually on 12 August, to highlight youth issues and challenges so that we can bring attention to them. It’s a day where we can celebrate young people's roles as active parts of today's society.
Why is International Youth Day so important?
As a young person, I think it’s an important day for all young people as it gives us the opportunity to voice our opinions and be heard.
“ In a world where nothing stays the same for long, it’s important that we all have the chance to be heard and considered, because at the end of the day, we’re the next generation of leaders, workers, parents, so our voices will help with the decisions for future generations"
Finding our purpose and passion
In today's world, being a young person comes with so many new opportunities and experiences for us to find out what we want to do with our lives, or to find things that we have a passion for.
Earlier this year, my school was gathering a public speaking team. With careful consideration, I decided to put myself out of my comfort zone and join the team. With the help of my teammates and teachers, I ended up loving it, and made new friends with the same interests along the way.
I won an award for my part in my team's speech, which led to me gaining a true passion for public speaking. It made me feel like my voice was heard and it gave me the confidence to be able to speak strongly about my interests and passions in both school and everyday life.
I would advise all young people to try out new hobbies or take the risk to try out new experiences, when possible, as it can open up so many doors for you both now and later on in life. For me, public speaking helped me with my ability to communicate with others and to voice my own opinions confidently.
Finding our voice by getting out of our comfort zone
On this year's International Youth Day, I'm inviting all young people to get out of their own comfort zone and get involved with voicing their thoughts and opinions on what it’s like to grow up as a young person in 2025.
By doing this, we all have the opportunity to grow which gives me hope for us young people in the future, as we can all grow and learn from each other.
You can do this by talking about how you feel, check in on how others are feeling and making sure to listen to others' opinions and thoughts. You can also get involved in debate teams, public speaking groups or competitions like me!
This can help us all make sure that we all feel appreciated and ensures that young people are heard. Whether you're voicing your opinion on your daily life, your education or maybe even your part-time job, it all matters as it allows our voices to be taken into consideration. I would advise all young people to get involved in something that interests them as it will boost your confidence.
Make a positive difference
If I had to give young people one message for International Youth Day, it would be to always try and positively make a difference in other people's lives when possible.
Make sure to get outside and have fun every now and again, make sure you look after your own mental health by speaking about how you feel. Also make sure to listen to others when they speak about theirs.
A great example of this that I saw first-hand this year was at a music festival, where they had boards in which we could write advice for other young people on how to deal with our own mental health and how to help others.
Remember, treat others like how you wish to be treated and together we can all positively help brighten each other's day.
“ In a world full of darkness, be someone's sparkle"
