“It was an early start for five members of the youth parliament (JuPa) and Eva Heggemann from Monheim am Rhein’s Child and Youth Development Service, who all set their alarms for just after five o’clock in the morning.

We were off to Herne for the 'Workshop under palm trees' (WUP), which ran from July 2 to July 3. Some of us had already had a great time at last year’s WUP, which is organized by the youth parliament in Herne, and were all too happy to return; for others, it was their first time at the Mont-Cenis Academy. The WUP program included 13 different workshops on the Saturday, plus a workshop for the educators of the youth committees.

Viktoria Gintner and Pia Schneider attended an interesting session on the power of persuasion through debate, while Lea-Marie Kluske’s workshop on body image, grades and success dealt with a number of socially relevant themes. Abdel Kariouh took part in a workshop on cyberbullying and sexting, which provided interesting background information and presented different methods to prevent bullying. Franziska Becker attended a session on moderation training, where she practiced important rhetoric techniques. That evening, everyone got together to watch the exciting match between Germany and Italy on the big screen in the Bürgersaal. The whole academy jumped for joy with every penalty kick for Germany. There was a fantastic atmosphere and the young participants made contacts that they won’t be forgetting any time soon. Following a rather late night, on Sunday it was time to reflect on all of the workshops. One special highlight was a panel discussion with Minister Christina Kampmann, moderated by Franziska Becker and a fellow participant of the moderation training workshop. What’s more, the new team of speakers from the KiJuRat (Child and Youth Council) introduced themselves for the first time. We all thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and look forward to coming back! Franziska Becker”