The newly elected Youth Councillors of Toronto held their first meeting this Saturday in the Council Chambers of Toronto City Hall.

Two years ago, Jerry Wu was just an ordinary student at Marc Garneau balancing the life of a TOPS student while struggling to get some sleep in between. However, that all changed when his civics class started to learn about politics. After a visit from Kathleen Wynne who talked about her responsibilities as MPP and Minister of Transportation in his class, it sparked his interest into volunteering for her election and as well as for Rob Oliphant. The excitement and the rewarding experience that it brought, caused him to continue advancing into politics.

After joining the Don Valley West Youth Liberal Club shortly after volunteering for Kathleen Wynne, Jerry sought out many important issues that residents and most importantly, youth face in this area. When hearing about the city youth council, Jerry knew that this was his opportunity to make a change and devote himself to his community.

Marc Garneau Grade 11 student Jerry Wu is the newly-elected youth councillor for Ward 26, representing upwards of seven thousand youth who live, work and play in Don Valley East.

And what a change indeed! Now, Jerry Wu, at only 16 years old, is the recently elected City Youth Councillor for Ward 26!  The responsibilies of city youth councillors are similar to that of a city councillor with the exception of their focus on issues concerning youth. City youth councillors participate in the decision-making process of issues that affect the daily life of youth.

As the city youth councillor, Jerry expects to hold some changes for the area surrounding Marc Garneau (Ward 26) . He plans to hold more community events to make youth involvement more feasible, reduce the pollution of Don River, and increase youth education and employment levels.

Interested? Students can get involved with the city youth council in several ways depending on the amount of time they are willing to devote to the council. You can apply to volunteer for city youth council as managers and directors, join a youth council committee, or just have your voice heard through their city youth councillor. For more information on how to get involved, click here.

For youth considering advancing towards politics or discussing about their love of Tom and Jerry should consider approaching Jerry Wu. He is an inspiration to youth wanting to make a change as well as a friendly face to look forward to when entering the gates of Marc Garneau!