By Sara Doktorova
A college student selected as a finalist for Leicester’s Lord Lieutenant’s Award has highlighted a trip to hear Prime Minister’s Question Time in the Houses of Parliament as a special moment.
One year ago, Mario Duda, 17, was nominated for the Lord Lieutenant’s Award by his citizenship teacher at his secondary school and he was selected as one of the 16 finalists.
The A Level Politics, Business and Sociology student at Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College, is also a youth representative at Leicester City Council, and a member of the Labour Party.
While at New College Leicester secondary school, he:
- was a student PM
- organised and coordinated meetings for each year group
- worked closely with the police and crime commissioner, the city council, and young community leaders around the area
- worked with a team to support homeless people
- supported the school environment
- and met the needs of fellow school students.
Mario’s job as a youth representative is to represent young people across the city, and he meets up every three to four weeks with the rest of the city’s young people’s council.
It has about ten members but there are plans to increase that as they will be having elections, with the council to be made up of 42 to 50 seats.
Each youth member represents an area of Leicester, but also gets involved in city-wide campaigns, works on select committees with actual Leicester city councillors and asks questions.
Mario said: “It is a very nervous setting to sit with the councillors as some of the words and topics you may not understand.”
There is also a pre-meeting before the actual meeting, where a scrutiny officer informs them about the set questions and topics, but they can also ask their own questions, so that they feel organised about what’s going on.
Mario said: “It makes me feel proud to be a part of the young people’s council, as I am the first of my culture to be part of this elected youth council.
“I will make sure that each young person’s voice is represented in the city council.”
Mario encouraged people to vote for Labour in the next General Election because he believes it would be a vote for change – a change in government, and in how the country and society will be run.
He said the country had endured 14 years of decline, of destruction of the NHS and the economy.
The role has given him new experiences, opportunities to meet new people, including many young councillors, the Lord Mayor of Leicester and MP Liz Kendall.
He had a chance to go to the House of Parliament in London, during which he experienced Prime Minister’s Questions, and said it was an exciting place to be because it’s a future place he wants to work in.
His dream is to become a politician.
