Helping Whangarei's young inspires Ryan to achieve

HONOURED: Ryan Donaldson at the Whangarei Youth Awards at Toll Stadium in December. PHOTO/FILE

Ryan Donaldson gets to work with youth on a daily basis, but he is only a handful of years older than most of the young people he meets at his job.

The 21-year-old is part of the Whangarei Youth Space (WYS) team that focuses on providing a safe and fun environment for youth in the area.

He started out on a trustee board that wanted to help the young people of Whangarei before WYS had even begun.

When the Whangarei Youth Space got under way in 2012, Ryan began his work as chairman for the youth group in the hope of growing it into the social hub it now is.

Ryan was initially interested in the job because he had a passion for getting involved in the community and he wanted to work with people not much younger than himself.

"The best part of my job is getting to work alongside youth every day in such a strength-based team. The positivity around the place is great."

Ryan attended the Whangarei Youth Awards at Toll Stadium on the December 11 last year and received the leadership award for his work as chairman for the WYS youth group.

He said that he was "stoked" at winning and that "it was such an awesome way to give back to the community".

Ryan is the current Project leader of the WYS bullying behaviour awareness and prevention (BB Free) plan.

The project focuses on raising awareness of bullying in the area by a series of short films, in co-operation with Channel North.

WYS also hopes to get in touch with a local musician to collaborate with, and compose and produce, a music video on the theme of BB Free.

As for Ryan's future, he still wishes to work with young people as a career, but also wants to branch out and start up his own music pathway.