Jacob’s story
As a Kirklees Youth Councillor, Jacob has made sure that the young people he represents have a voice. He is an active campaigner for young people’s democratic education and has been keen to share his learning about local and national democracy. He brought parliament into the classroom at Shelley College by hosting a visit for Chris Skidmore MP, then Minister for the Constitution, to demonstrate his peer-to-peer learning programme. Jacob then introduced over a thousand of his peers to democracy during school assemblies.
He has given speeches, facilitated Active Citizens workshops, participated in a Q&A panel, spoken in a Full Council debate and designed young people’s engagement activities. He won a Diana Award for his work to promote local democracy.
Jacob says: “It was a spur of the moment decision to just turn up and see what it was like. It honestly has changed my life forever. We’ve got a good thing, so let’s develop it and make it even better.”