Albany Change Makers Summit 2025 & Beyond

At a glance

• Date: Tuesday 29 July 2025
• Location: Albany, Great Southern, Western Australia (over 400km from Perth)
• Participants: 70+ students
• Schools: Yakamia Primary School, Mt Lockyer Primary School, North Albany Senior High School, Australian Christian College Southlands, and St Joseph's College
• Funded by: WA Department of Communities
• Delivered with: City of Albany
• Format: A youth-led summit, shaped by a local youth task force, with a virtual follow-up three months on

The brief: leadership shouldn't be dictated by postcode

Albany sits more than 400 kilometres from Perth, and that distance shapes what young people in the Great Southern can access. As one local school leader put it, the town's remoteness significantly limits access to high-quality leadership development for its youth.

The City of Albany wanted an event that did more than inspire for a day. It wanted young people's voices at the front of the conversation, and it wanted lasting change in the community once the summit was over. That is the brief we set out to deliver, with young people, not just for them.

What we delivered

The summit was built around a single belief: young people are already motivated to lead, they just need the skills, the permission and the belief to back them. Everything on the day worked towards that.

A summit designed by Albany students

In the months before the event, a youth task force made up of students from each school met regularly to decide what young people in Albany actually needed. They helped shape the program, and on the day they helped run it. The summit was designed and led by young people, which is what gave the room its sense of ownership.

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Keynotes, challenges and a clear framework

Students heard from Founder Wil Massara, the 2025 WA Young Achiever of the Year for Community Leadership, and from Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient Lexy McDonald, founder of the wellbeing app HerHelp. Between the keynotes sat interactive leadership challenges and a design-thinking process facilitated by our team, led on the ground by Programme Manager Bonnie Ryan-Rowe.

A standout was the Circle of Control session, which gave students a simple way to focus their energy on what they can actually influence. It is the idea students named most often when asked what they took away.

What the students built

By the end of the day, every school left with an actionable plan rather than a feeling that would fade by Friday. Each group used the design-thinking process to name a real issue in their school, dig into its causes, and shape a project they could lead themselves.

• North Albany Senior High School: 15 student leaders designed a whole-school engagement project, an inclusive games competition and a school-wide scavenger hunt, to tackle isolation and social cliques. The plan was grounded in a student-run survey of 120 of their peers.
• Australian Christian College Southlands: a cross-age buddy system and Year 12-led clubs to connect students across year levels and build a stronger whole-school community.
• Mt Lockyer Primary School: "Care for Lockyer," a whole-school gratitude and service initiative thanking the cleaners, gardeners, admin staff and local volunteers who keep the school and community running.

The outcomes

In the post-summit student survey, the day landed where it mattered most, on confidence and agency:

• 100% of students felt more prepared to lead themselves, their school and their community.
• 95% felt more able to create change in themselves and their surroundings.
• 88% felt more connected with their peers after the program.
• Students rated facilitator effectiveness 4.4 out of 5 and the overall experience 4.2 out of 5.

School leaders were equally clear. Every participating school leader surveyed rated their communication with YLAA five out of five, and North Albany Senior High School rated the day five out of five across content, experience and delivery, with a ten out of ten likelihood to recommend.

Crucially, the summit was a beginning, not an ending. Three months on, the students reconvene virtually to present progress on the solutions they designed, turning a single day into a project that keeps working for Albany.

What Albany said

The day was designed and led by other students, and that allowed participants to feel an ownership of the day's proceedings. Our students came away with an actionable plan and are excited about the next stage of supporting our town.— Julie Duthie, Senior School Student Services Coordinator, North Albany Senior High School

Albany's remote location significantly limits access to high-quality leadership development for our youth. YLAA's programs are uniquely positioned to help, and we wholeheartedly support their continuation in our region.— Wing Kuen Wee, Head of Secondary, Australian Christian College Southlands

One of the highlights was the chance for our students to connect and collaborate with student leaders from a range of different schools and backgrounds. The conversations and friendships were just as valuable as the formal learning.— Tristan Mackenzie, Deputy Principal, Yakamia Primary School

That my age should not restrict what I am able to achieve.— Albany Changemakers Summit student, on their biggest takeaway

What's next: a three-year commitment to regional WA

The Albany Changemakers Summit was never meant to be a one-off. With new funding from the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, YLAA will continue and expand the Changemakers program across regional Western Australia over the next three years.

That means more young people, in more regional towns where leadership opportunities are too often dictated by postcode, getting the same chance Albany's students had: to build real skills, design real projects, and lead change in their own communities. Albany is where it started. It is not where it ends.