Coinciding with NRL Indigenous Round, First Nations students nominated by League clubs gathered on the Central Coast last week to participate in a range of workshops.
Held on Darkinjung Country, the NRL Indigenous Youth Summit focused on sharing culture and cultural experiences, developing leadership and promoting wellbeing.
A four-day intensive camp, the Summit equipped the 68 Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori Year 11 student participants to be changemakers in their communities.
Representing the Melbourne Storm, Yorta Yorta woman Meerah Sehgal spoke about respect and advocating for more opportunities for Indigenous people to connect with culture.
"It feels like such an unreal, surreal experience, I feel incredibly grateful and lucky," Meerah said, via NRL.com.
"I learnt so much from every other leader that was there (at the summit) and I am who I am now and what I'm going to do in the future because of everyone there at this camp and what they've all taught me.
"I feel like I've gained so much confidence. I really came out of my shell."
The Brisbane Broncos representative, Kane Munt, from Mabuyag (Mabuiag) in the Torres Strait, shared his desire to address the issue of young Indigenous people in out of home care, and to increase their opportunity to connect to culture.
"The week was really important; it was good to come out the country, come out and connect with everyone, connect with people that I've never met," Kane said.
"It feels like we've met before and it just it felt amazing. There was no shame. There was no judgment. Everyone supported each other. They cared for each other."
The Summit saw the young leaders spend time on Country to visit culturally significant sites including the heritage-listed Baiame Cave and Finchley Aboriginal Area in Yengo National Park.
A trip to Newcastle to attend the Newcastle Knights v Penrith Panthers Indigenous Round clash concluded the Summit, where participant Yaegan Faulkner performed as part of the pre-game ceremony.
NRL RAP Program and Social Impact Manager Alanah Scholes labelled this year's summit "a great success," while confirming she was working on a program to utilise the skills and talents of the participants who were selected in the Summit's 'Top 20'.
"We actually are looking at a new kind of leadership group utilising the youth voices as part of a council," Scholes said, NRL.com reports.
"It's something we're looking at developing; not just utilising our ambassadors but also the Top 20 kids to bring them together and have them voice concerns around what's happening at a community level and the challenges that they are having in communities, but also provide an opportunity for them to get experience out of that.
"Being able to bring kids in to have experiences in at Rugby League Central headquarters (in Sydney) and spend time with our senior leadership group; spend time with an executive to learn and shadow them.
"I'm working on what that looks like at the moment and bringing them together for virtual yarning circles so they can continue to connect.
"(We want to) keep that light in that fire lit for them and provide opportunities that we can continue to have that impact as well."
The Summit was administered by the NRL's Social Impact team including staff from the School 2 Work program, with Summit participants guided by Dhinewan Mentoring, which was established by former NRL player and Gamilaroi/Dunghutti man Jonathan Wright.
The 'Top 20' selected from the NRL Indigenous Youth Summit included: Carla Salmon, Lilly Cousins, Isla Solomon, Kyarla Pacey, Kirri Stein, Shanae Bloomfield, Meerah Sehgal (Ambassador), Letayah Goldthorpe, Kyeisha Bell, Laura Chang (Top Four), Kobi Vassllo, Jessey O'Neill, Yaegan Faulkner, Tyrone Ahwong (Top Four), Lincoln Dell, Joseph Sam, Kane Munt (Ambassador), Antonio Multari, David Scholes and Thomas Molle.
