Teens Talk... Future You

Teens Talk… is professional development with a twist – giving teens the mic to share their expertise with secondary educators about the issues that affect them in the classroom. This is an opportunity to hear from young people who are leading the conversation on topics that matter to them and to reconsider what it means to teach and listen simultaneously. Imagine that in 2050, a spaceship sets out to establish a human outpost on a distant planet. Over the next century, characters on Earth and the planet Europa – and travelling in between – will need to work together to make humanity a force for positivity and kindness in the universe. How will it work? Imagine the possibilities. In this Teens Talk... event, author Lili Wilkinson will join a panel of teen experts to create and share stories of this imagined future, and talk about their hopes for the future of our planet. This session will be followed by a special short conversation between Lili Wilkinson and Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith who will discuss a new initiative to address the problems of the future – Future You. This session will also give first word of an exciting new opportunity for teen and emerging writers as part of Imagining The Future, the new fiction strand of Future You. For schools, the Wheeler Centre is also offering a limited number of writing workshops in which students will be guided through exercises to help them imagine their own futures. Contact Bec Kavanagh, Youth Programming Manager, to find out how to take part in these workshops: bec.kavanagh@wheelercentre.com. This event will also be live-streamed, viewable on this page from 6pm on Wednesday 14 September. This session is presented in partnership with the Future You program, an initiative of the Women in STEM Ambassador. The Wheeler Centre’s programming for young audiences is generously supported by The Hon. Justice Michelle Gordon AC and The Hon. Kenneth Hayne AC QC. Artwork by Pilgrim Hodgson  

In the extraordinary times we live in, Wheeler Education is here to bring the world to teens – and teens to the world. Our programme offers a range of events that prioritises the voices and experiences of young people – on the stage, and off.