By Callum Ludwig
A young community-minded Yarra Ranges resident is showing what youth can do in the area after finishing year 12 this year, studying, volunteering as a firefighter and becoming a voice for youth in the Yarra Ranges.
Amy Wahrenberger is studying audio engineering at Collarts, volunteering at Yarra Glen CFA and was a part of the Yarra Ranges Council’s Youth Advisory Group (YAG) over the past year.
Ms Wahrenberger said she was terrified for her first call out with the CFA.
“When the siren went off, it was very nerve-wracking and there was lots of adrenaline, but now I feel a lot calmer getting out into the truck, training has helped a lot,” she said.
“I started training late last year, and I’ve been able to go on call since about the end of Jan, and I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been a dream of mine for a while.”
Ms Wahrenberger is considering pursuing a career in firefighting.
Ms Wahrenberger said the crew are wonderful and the experience of firefighting is very rewarding.
“They’ve all got so much experience and help out immensely and it’s been a great opportunity and use of my free time,” she said,
“It can get crazy, you forget there’s fire there with all the adrenaline and you look around and just walk into it. We are out of the fire season now so it tends to be smaller fires and little incidents now, but I am looking forward to helping out going into the next fire season.”
Ms Wahrenberger was part of Mount Lilydale Mercy College’s Class of 2021 before getting into Collarts.
Ms Wahrenberger said while there is a lot of technical stuff, she is enjoying her degree.
“It can be difficult, but I’m enjoying it a lot and it’s something I’ve always been interested in,” she said.
“I’m hoping to pursue being a studio engineer, like a recording and mixing engineer afterwards.”
Throughout 2021, Ms Wahrenberger was a member of the inaugural pilot program for YAG, which aimed to consult young community members on Council decisions.
Ms Wahrenberger said the project aimed to get the voices of young people in the Yarra Ranges heard and valued.
“We don’t always see our experiences being represented in the decisions, but for YAG, we were doing consultations and advising teams across Council on their projects or questions they brought to us,” she said.
“We had one consultation with the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions on development in Lilydale, and we created three proposals as a group, and one of them ended up being approved by the Lilydale Urban Revitalisation Board and approved for a grant of $100,000.”
YAG consisted of fifteen diverse members and has been renewed for another three years after the successful pilot.
Ms Wahrenberger said she is now in a peer mentor role for the new YAG group who have started up recently and that YAG is a really passionate group of young people.
“We are a very diverse group in the Yarra Ranges, and we discussed a number of issues including public transport and needing more connectivity among some of the suburbs that are a little bit further out, and needing more mental health services in the area,” she said.
“There was a lot of talk about the environment, with the amazing environments we have around here, as well as Indigenous Voice and LGBTQI+ issues. Unemployment was brought up a lot, especially with a lot of young people in the Yarra Ranges abused in the workplace with nowhere to go.”
Ms Wahrenberger said she adores the beautiful places and parks in the Yarra Valley, and thinks the Yarra Ranges is home to some amazing people, a great culture and an amazing community.
