Maja Piekarska was born in Poland, moved to Scotland for 7 years, and has called Morden home for six years. She is a grade 12 student at Morden Collegiate and loves to read and write, and play badminton, and video games.
She shared how it felt to be chosen as the Morden Youth Council Member for the City of Morden for the term lasting until August 2023.
"It feels absolutely amazing to be a continuous voice for the youth of Morden, and out of a lot of the applicants that applied, I'm just very happy overall I got picked and chosen for this role by the Council and the Mayor. So, I'm just a little excited."
She explained why she is happy to be serving her peers in this way.
"When I learned about the position it was absolutely, definitely something I was interested in. It's a great opportunity to network, learn leadership skills and volunteer in the community, and make an overall difference. I'm also trying to find the answer to the question of, 'Who do I want to be?' and, 'Who I am?' And a lot of the youth are sent to figure out that question as well. And so I would like to help them find the answer to that question."
As a member of the Morden Collegiate Debate Club since her grade 9 year, Piekarska described what inspired her to apply for the position.
"I volunteered at the All-Candidates Forum. That was one of the reasons that really piqued my interest when I heard about the Youth Council Member role. That was one of the factors that really inspired me to go for it. When all the councilors were talking about things, really major, important issues to people of Morden. I was like, 'You know what? That is absolutely a great career choice.' I'm definitely considering politics as one of my career choices, and it was just an overall great experience to touch my feet into the water."
As a voice for Morden's youth, she is hearing from youth and what is important to them.
"By supporting our local youth by creating and encouraging more activities like I want to, we could get the youth involved. I think it's a major key to help find things they do like, and it's actually the thing I'm hearing the most amongst them, is after-school activities, something involving sports, something involved in academics. That's pretty much what I'm hearing, more activities that help them get involved after school."
Piekarska's first Council meeting was on November 28th. It gave her a glimpse into local politics and she is still learning the ropes, adding she is excited to extend her knowledge as time goes by.