WEEK 8! THURSDAY 25 JUNE 2009

The Big Switch Experiment Update!
MK REPRESENTS AUSTRALIA AT CONFERENCE!!

On the 6th August 2009, four young West Australians will be travelling to Sonderberg in Denmark to represent Millennium Kids at the Bright Green Youth Conference - UN Youth Climate Change Conference 2009. Bright Green Youth is the youth counterpart of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen in December. During the Conference, the young people attending will come up with ideas and suggestions for what we can do to solve future climate challenges.

Our Australian representatives will be telling the world all about the BIG Switch Experiment- and we need your help to do it! Each week the Millennium Kids Corner will be asking you a question that you need to help us answer! The answers to these questions will be tabled at the Bright Green Youth Conference!!

This week's question is:

Answer this question by commenting below!

If you would like to find out more about The Big Switch Experiment head to www.thebigswitchexperiment.blogspot.com !!

News and Views!

This week we wanted to hear about the issues that you are currently facing in your neighbourhood. We heard from a range of people aged 13-17 from the southern suburbs. (listen below) In the coming weeks the MK Corner is going to be delving a little deeper into these issues and providing you with some advice from knowing adults who can help you through your situation.

Listen Up!

For some kids a Saturday night leaves them with nothing to do and no where to hang out. As a result they may get caught up in acts of antisocial behaviour like roaming the streets, binge drinking, graffiti and vandalism. To combat this, the Office for Crime Prevention, WA Police, Midland PCYC and the City of Swan have banned together to bring Midnight Basketball to Midland. A fabulous program that gives at risk young people somewhere safe to hang out and have fun on a Saturday night. The Millennium Kids Corner went down to the Swan Park Leisure Centre to check out the program and had a chat with Project Coordinator Ian Westmore from the Office of Crime Prevention, Robyn Cottman WA Police and some of the kids participating!

WEEK 7! THURSDAY 18 JUNE 2009

Listen Up!

This week Naomi and Anthony (Year 10) from Thornlie Senior High School joined Kate on the Millennium Kids Corner! We talked about Thornlie and the surrounding suburbs as well as what it is like to live in the area. They said that although their school had a bad stigma attached to it, it isn't as bad as everyone thinks it is. "There are great things about Thornlie, our school, sporting facilities, public transport, and good places to hang out with their friends." said Anthony.

Naomi said "Unfortunately, there are people around in Thornlie who hang around in gangs and make us locals feel uncomfortable." Anthony and Naomi said that they would like to see more art facilities in their area and would like to feel safer when they walk around the neighbourhood.

When the Millennium Kids Corner visited Thornlie SHS to run a Hip Hop battle, the students wrote songs about the dangers of smoking, being themselves, and the importance of staying in school. Anthony and Naomi said that the message in their song - being yourself - was important to get out into the community because they find that people become unhappy when they think they are not as people think they should be.

The students are excited that their songs have gone into the draw to be professionally produced and played on HypeFM!!

Jonathan Beninca also visited the MK Corner this week! He has been travelling all over the Perth metro area this week talking to kids about the dangers of playing on the rainlines. 10 Years ago Jonathon lost his arm, leg and two fingers after being run over by a train at the end of a big night out on the town. Every year there is a staggering amount of people that are involved in accidents on Australian train lines due to risk taking behavior like trespassing. Something as simple as taking a short cut across the train tracks, jumping off the platform to pick up your newspaper or sunglasses or as dangerous as playing on the tracks with your friends can all lead to serious consequences. For some people the result of this risk taking behavior is death as a train may hit them. But for the lucky ones they are left to live with the scars of their past mistakes. If you would like Jonathan to come and speak about keeping safe on public transport you can visit the Right Track website http://www.righttrack.wa.gov.au/

WEEK 6! THURSDAY 11 JUNE 2009

News and Views:

This week we were extremely lucky to have the Commissioner for Children and Young People Michelle Scott join us in the HypeFM Studios!

The Commissioner talked about her new Complaints Guidelines "Are You Listening?"and what she learnt from children and young people to help develop the guidelines. She even answered questions from HypeFM listeners!

The Commissioner said her favourite part of her job was travelling throughout the Western Australia and meeting children and young people to learn about all the great things they are doing in their community.

For more information about the Commissioner for Children and Young People visit www.ccyp.wa.gov.au

Top 5: This week's Top 5 came live from Wesley College Year 10 Community Serviec Students!
1. Hey Boys and Girls - Evermore
2. Dead and Gone - Justin Timberlake and TI
3. Day and Night (Remix) Kid Cudi
4. Never Miss a Beat - Kaiser Chiefs
5. Gives You Hell - All American Rejects

WEEK 5! THURSDAY 4 JUNE 2009

Listen Up!

In light of a local news story of the day - the MK Corner decided to look at your views of Graffiti and Urban Art.

News Article Courtesy of the ABC http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/04/2589225.htm
"West Australian councils are pushing for tough new laws to force graffiti vandals to pay clean-up costs. The President of the WA Local Government Association (WALGA), Bill Mitchell, says graffiti costs ratepayers and taxpayers more than $30 million a year.
Mr Mitchell believes councils should be able to recover the entire clean-up cost from vandals, or their parents if the offender is underage. He says many vandals are not being held financially accountable for their actions.
"If they get work orders, no on turns up," he said.
"If they are fined, no one pays the fine and it in some ways goes back to the Juvenile Defenders Act whereby people are caught between a juvenile and being an adult and seem to slip through the cracks in the system."
Representatives of WALGA hope to meet the Minister for Police and the Police Commissioner to discuss the issue."

We asked Hype listeners if they think there is a difference between graffiti and urban art? There was a whole range of responses flooding in on the Hype Hotline: 9472 1017
Carrie (14) from Spearwood: Graffiti is Vandalism. Urban Art is Art.
Simone (19) from Beeliar: I don't think it is fair that parents should have to pay for a kids crime... Why is it their fault?
Jeremy (15) Joondalup: I think we need some more places for kids like me to do graffiti. Why doesnt the goventment put up Urban Art Walls for us?

If you have something to say let us know by commenting below!

We were also lucky enough to hear from some young people about their opinions on graffiti and why they do it. If you would like to listen to the package check out the MK Corner Blog side bar as it will be posted soon->





TOP 5 This week's Top 5 came live from Erika (18) from John Septimus Roe Anglican College

5. Trent Williams- the times

4. Woah- Wes Carr

3. India Arie- Wonderful

2. Put your number in my phone- Trey Songs

1. Summer- Microwave Jenny

WEEK 4! THURSDAY 28 MAY 2009

Animal of the Week: This week we hear from Bob the volunteer snake handler! He gave us an insight into what it is like being a volunteer snake handler and removing snakes from people's homes.

The Big Switch Experiment Update: Actress Cate Blanchett spoke to world Business Leaders about Climate Change. This lead to the announcement of the banning of plastic bags by a major Australian retailer.

Top 5: This week came from Gilmore College!

1. I don't hook up - Kelly Clarkson

2. Jai Ho! - Pussycat Dolls

3. Princess - Shortstack

4. Don't Trust Me - 3oh!3

5. Boom Boom Pow! - Black Eyed Peas

News and Views: The Curriculum Council announced that Community Service was no longer complusory for high school students to graduate. What do you think about this? Is it a good thing? Or a bad thing? What are some of your memorable community service moments? Let us know by commenting below!

WEEK 3! THURSDAY 21 MAY 2009

ANIMAL SPECIAL!

This week's show is talking all things 'animal'!

Animal of the Week:

Kimberly from South Perth Primary School told us all about her favourite animal - the Numbat!

News and Views:

Children's Author Frances Maber joined us in the studio to have a chat about her favourite animal - the Wombat! Her passions for wombats began sometime ago, and she felt the best way to express that was through writing a children's book thus 'Willit the Wombat' was born with her first book Willit's Friends. Following Willit's Friends, Frances wrote Willit the Amazing Wombat and Willit Grows Up. A percentage of the book's sold is donated to wombat research. If you would like more information about Frances and her books visit http://www.willitthewombat.com/

The Big Switch Experiment Update:

On Sunday 19th April MK Corner Reporter Kate Laurendi visited Native ARC as part of a release mission. A number of black swans had become ill in November due to photosynthesis, a blistering illness that affects their beak and skin. The swans were housed at Native ARC and treated by the Native ARC volunteers for a three month period until they were relocated back to Lake Monger on Sunday 19th April. All the swans were banded so their progress can be tracked on the lake. Millennium Kids reporter Kate Laurendi was on site to interview the volunteers on the day. When the wetlands start to dry up we see the black swans and other bird life getting sick’ said Annie, a swan volunteer. “ We did not know about this disease until 2005 and we are seeing it more frequently: she said.”

If you see a bird with a blue band on its leg that is sick or dead please call the Wildlife Carer Hotline 08 93340333 in Western Australia to report it so we can follow up and do more research on the illnesses.

WEEK 2! THURSDAY 14 MAY 2009

The Big Switch Experiment Update!

Kimberly and Abbie from South Perth Primary School joined me in the studio to talk about the Big Switch Experiment (BSE). The BSE is a campaign run by kids all over Perth to help people switch their thinking and their attitude about climate Change! To do this young people have been doing some research to find out how the area in which they live may be affected by climate change.

Kimberly and Abbie tol us all about their research trip with the South Perth Sustainability Ambassadors to New Norica to find out more about the Swan and Avon Rivers. If you would like more information about the BSE and their trip to New Norica visit www.thebigswitchexperiment.blogspot.com.

TOP 5!

South Perth Primary School's Top 5 Songs:

1. Boom boom pow – Black Eyed Peas
2. Beautiful – Akon
3. Revelry – Kings of Leon
4. Hey boys and girls – Evemore

5. Jai Ho! - Pussycat Dolls

WEEK 1! THURSDAY 7 MAY 2009

LISTEN UP!

Leading the Listen Up Segment this week are three extraordinary students from the City of Stirling, Ashton (Year 11), Susie (Year 7) and Hussine (Year 7) who in November worked with a students from schools all around the area (including Mirrabooka SHS, Nollamara SHS, Chisholm College, St Stephens and Warriapendi Primary school) and the Public Transport Authority and Millennium Kids to develop ideas to discover their freedom using public transport.Now to do this, the kids firstly highlighted a whole series of issues in their community and these related to things they liked and things they didn’t like about their community. Some things that they liked about their community included the beach, sporting grounds and friendly people, however, they didn’t like racism, fights in the street, bullying and that public transport was sometimes not safe to go on.

From there, Ashton, Susie and Hussine worked with professional marketing people to help them develop a sign that would be placed on the buses and trains that promoted the positive things they do on public transport. Ashton’s sign has an Andy Warhol theme, its brightly coloured and with the slogan – ‘Discover your freedom’. Susie’s sign is cute as could be - its pink with a little cartoon girl starring out the window. Her slogan was ‘With out public transport I would be stuck at home’. Hussine’s slogan is “Public Transport helps me have fun in many ways’ and his sign has a cartoon of him kicking a soccer ball!

ANIMAL OF THE WEEK!

Emily (Year 3) told us all about her favourite Australian Animal - the Banicoot!

THE BIG SWITCH EXPERIMENT UPDATE!
St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls - "One of the biggest areas of concern for kids in Mosman Park is climate change. So St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls Junior school is tackling it head on by adopting a piece of land right next to their school. I caught up with three Year 5 students to explain their plan for the coming months.
Congratulations Sascha, Allie and Isobel for all the hard work you have done so far! I’ll be sure to keep you posted on their bush land adoption and what the girls will be doing over the next term.