Harmony Youth Summit 2025: Put It In Drive
Long Nguyen is a young multicultural person who is completing a Student Placement at CMY as part of his studies. On Friday 5 September, Long attended the inaugural Harmony Youth Summit, and witnessed over 180+ school aged students from the North and Western suburbs of Melbourne come together to ‘Put it in Drive’. Long shares his experience and reflections of the day.
On the 5th of September, the 5th Harmony Youth Summit (HYS) took place at Victoria University’s Footscray Park campus. One jam-packed day that brought together multicultural young people and mentors to exchange stories, dreams and knowledge.
For the Summit’s fifth year, it was only fitting that the event would shift into its “fifth gear” with the theme “Put It In Drive”. Meant to evoke the feeling of fierceness, of taking actions and being in control, of change, purpose and destination. This year’s HYS was all about having clear directions for both young people and their mentors to navigate current struggles, giving young people the keys to the lives they want and helping them accelerate on the highway to their dreams.
With workshops, speakers and cultural exchanges organised by CMY’s programs Le Mana Pasifika Project, Western Young Peoples Independent Network (WYPIN), and the South Sudanese Community Support Groups (CSG), as well as a few unexpected twists and turns, this HYS was truly a ride to remember.
An Acknowledgement of Country with smoking ceremony kicked off the event in VU’s Moondani Balluk garden, led by Gunditjmara woman Rhiannon Madden who acknowledged the gathering was taking place on Wurundjeri land and granted them luck and good spirits for the rest of the day.
In line with the theme, colour-coordinated cards resembling driver’s licenses were given out to young people at registration. Workshop groups were then formed based on the colours, which are Blue, Purple, Yellow, Orange and Red, and ran for the entire morning until lunch. In one particular activity, young people were asked to design the car of their dreams, which encouraged them to visualise and process their goals and ambitions.
Teachers attending on the day also participated in Professional Development, led by young people from CMY’s Reverb 2.0 program and CMY’s Sector Capability Building team. Teachers and mentors attended workshops on how to best address and tackle some of the most prevalent problems faced by multicultural youth in Australia, including mental health and racism in schools.
After lunch, everyone reconvened in the main auditorium for cultural exchange from the South Sudanese CSG team and keynote speakers Gene Bell and Lily Kawac from CMY’s Youth Justice Lived Experience Mentoring Project. But almost no one knew that they were on board a rollercoaster of emotions.
The cultural exchange included an extended dance performance that immersed everyone in South Sudanese culture. The audience was invited to come down and join the dancers, and they did. The sense of community was well and truly palpable, as everyone swayed and bounced to the music. Not everyone knew what they were doing, but they all connected and filled the room with pure joy.
Emotions remained high even after the cultural exchange had ended, only they were a different kind of emotion. Gene Bell spoke of his journey, his experience and insight on how to confront fear, as someone who moved from New Zealand to Australia at a young age, who then became someone who would help others confront their fears, first as a Court Advice Officer in Victoria, and now as part of the Youth Justice Mentoring Project.
Then, Lily Kawac opened up about her struggles, as a young South Sudanese woman who felt shut out in a new environment, as someone who had to deal with the untimely passing of a sibling, and whose suffering led her down a dark path with addiction. But her story was not one of tragedy; it was a story of resilience. Lily defeated her demons eight years ago and has not looked back since, as she is now the mother of two children and a living, breathing example of how everyone can become the best version of themselves.
Touched by Lily’s story, a gentleman from the Māori community went down to the stage to thank her personally and offered to perform a Haka in her honour. More people gathered in front of her, and the Haka unfolded. An intense, passionate and collective display of culture and emotions made this moment not just a gift for Lily, but for all who were there to witness it.
And with that, Harmony Youth Summit 2025 ended in the most fitting way. A surprise that perfectly encapsulated the beautiful embrace and unity within cultural diversity.
The Harmony Youth Summit is supported by and made possible thanks to partners Victoria University, Office for Youth, Engage, Department of Families, Fairness and Housing and the Victorian Government.