Day 1 (Monday, 31st of July)
Today was my first day at YO Bendigo and so far, it has been a ball, everyone has been so friendly and amazing to be around. When I first got here, I felt very nervous, but that went away fast as for how welcomed I felt. The first thing that happened was a tour of the building from Jesse and Leon, followed by us all walking out to a café to get coffee. When we got back, I sat with Ella for a while. She showed me how to use Canva (which was a lot of help acknowledging how much I suck at it) and showed me a site they use called Mailchimp that allows them to send a bunch of emails to people at once about events, workshops and opportunities that are happing or coming up. I also started to make a social post for a workshop called ‘How to do your taxes’. I then went into a meeting with Teddy, Jesse, Halee from Headspace Bendigo, and Brett from Phoenix FM. I had my lunch which was followed by another meeting with Ella, Teddy, and Jesse about the week’s socials, and then Leon joined us to start planning Youth Fest.
Day 2 (Tuesday, 1st of August)
Today was amazing, I got to do heaps of creative activities, which is totally my jam, and Jesse gave me my tasks for the day. I got to make an Ambedo post on ‘how to get cheap concert tickets’, which was great, and I got to make a social post encouraging young artists to submit their artwork to put in the Ambedo magazine. I also did a little drawing in the YO Bendigo notebook they gave me. While we were eating lunch, Deputy Youth Mayor Lilly Correll and Youth Councillor Abby Patten came down to YO. They talked to me about the Youth Council and what they do there which I enjoyed and shortly after I started doing some brainstorming on future workshop ideas for the team. Jesse then showed me how to put posts on their Facebook page, and Facebook story.
Day 3 (Wednesday, the 2nd of August)
Today was just fantastic, first I joined in on a team planning meeting with Jesse, Teddy, Leon, Angela, Ella, and Nadine which went on for about 2 hours and then shortly after we went out for lunch to a place called Kang Thai, which was amazing because it was my first time having Thai food and it was delicious. When we got back, I went onto Canva and did some more posters for their social media accounts which I really enjoyed doing, and then Jesse and I reviewed them.
Day 4 (Thursday, the 3rd of August)
Today was a good day. When I first got here, I started to work on some tasks to help organise their office. This included making labels on Canva for some of the storage places in the office and some for their kitchen. I then laminated, cut and blue-tacked them on cupboards and draws in the office, as well as the kitchen. I then wrote another article for Ambedo magazine that was called ‘20 ways to use your toasty machine. Not long after Leon and Jesse helped me with my resume, we edited it and added some great skills and information to it, and they added themselves as my references which I really appreciated.
Day 5 Final Day (Friday, 4th of August)
Today was a sad day because it’s my last day at YO Bendigo and I’ve been having such a great time. It’s been such a fun and enjoyable experience; I’ve learnt so much, and everyone has been incredibly nice to me. I really don’t want to leave! Today I started with designing pronoun badges for a competition they are holding. Then not long after I sat with Ella and did some website editing, she showed me how they edit and create pages on their website, and she showed me how to use a site they use called Miro for the Ambedo Magazine. We then added my article on how my experience was here at YO Bendigo, which is what you are reading now so, Hi!