A youth leadership development event on Wednesday 23 June from 8.30-3pm at Lane Park in Upper Hutt is spearheaded by the Upper Hutt Youth Ambassadors.

The event is focused upon preparing their peers for leadership roles in the Upper Hutt and invitations have been sent to young people aged between 12 and 18 from all local high schools.

From Scoop.co.nz:

The Upper Hutt Youth Ambassadors Programme began in September 2009. 12 Upper Hutt young people were selected to be Youth Ambassadors. The goal of the programme is to enable local young people to gain quality leadership development which in turn will enable them to lead in all aspects of their life; from school to their family and wider community.

The Ministry of Youth Development requested that Upper Hutt City Council apply for additional funding specifically for extending the Youth Ambassadors Programme. Youth Ambassadors decided that was the way they would like to see the additional funding utilised to empower their peers for leadership roles.

The Youth Ambassadors programme is delivered by Upper Hutt City Council in partnership with the Ministry of Youth Development.

A study has found that young people are most likely to limit personal information online and least likely to trust sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace.

Marlene McManus, one of the young people, remarked that she has to represent a public face that does not hurt her image.

From Google.com:

It might go against conventional wisdom, but a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project is adding fuel to the argument that young people are fast becoming the gurus of online reputation management, especially when it comes to social networking sites.

Among other things, the study found that they are most likely to limit personal information online – and the least likely to trust free online services ranging from Facebook to LinkedIn and MySpace.

Marlene McManus, 21, is among those young adults. On the job hunt since graduating from Clark University in Massachusetts, she’s been “scouring” her Facebook page, removing photos that contain beer cups and any other signs of college exploits. She’s also dropped Twitter altogether.

“I have to present a public face that doesn’t have the potential to hurt my image,” McManus says.

She has seen otherwise upstanding adults, well past their 20s, sharing compromising photos and questionable rants with too many people online. “I get embarrassed for these people and sometimes just want to shake them,” she says.

Mary Madden, the Pew researcher who was the study’s lead author, remarked that the findings in a way reflect that young people use social networking for long than elders and are therefore more experienced.