Young ambassadors wanted for Japanese sister city tour

Published: 07 Dec 2018

Council is seeking motivated young people to represent our region in our Japanese sister city, Matsuura.

The 2019 Youth Ambassador Program launched this week and applications are now open for students in years 10, 11 and 12 (in 2019) to visit Japan and stay in Matsuura.

Cr Fran Mann said council was providing a $1000 scholarship to be used towards the

cost of travel for each student.

“Our sister city relationship turns 30 in 2019, and we would love to see lots of youth ambassadors take advantage of the opportunity to participate in this program,” Cr Mann said.

“We’ve also changed the criteria this year to make this program more accessible,” she said.

“In previous years, you had to have been studying Japanese language.  This year, students just need to be able to demonstrate an interest in Japan and its culture.

“Japan is a hub of industry, innovation, technology, business, art, tourism, food, history and culture, so the learning opportunities presented by this program are immense.

“Add to that the opportunity to learn new life skills and make new friends, and we believe this program should be open to all students in our region.”

The ambassadors will depart Mackay in the June/July school holidays and visit Tokyo, Kyoto and enjoy a week’s homestay in our sister city Matsuura.

The student group will be accompanied by two adult chaperones.

Students must be willing to participate in fortnightly meetings leading up to the trip (frequency may change to weekly closer to departure date).

Based on last year’s tour, the approximate net cost of the tour after deduction of the scholarship is $2000.

Applications should be finalised and submitted to mackaysistercities@mackay.qld.gov.au no later than midnight, Sunday, February 15, 2019.