![Pip Ireson (centre) with Year 11 friends, Charlotte Dulhunty and Amber Martin-Smith, Frensham boarders. Pip Ireson (centre) with Year 11 friends, Charlotte Dulhunty and Amber Martin-Smith, Frensham boarders.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/HP8JNNb9L5GxeLhGSmNhXK/0e05e9b0-8902-4a88-a4af-a0245c7e93a4.jpg/r0_0_3465_2595_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Pip Ireson, a Year 11 Frensham student who when not boarding lives on a property near Booligal, is excited to have earned a place in a UNICEF drought initiative.
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It is an opportunity for Pip to help her community and her fellow students.
For her application to attend the UNICEF NSW Youth Drought Summit, Pip was required to write about the impact of drought on her own family and herself.
She sent a video representing what drought means to her.
Pip is mindful that her successful application means she has the chance to be an active participant with like-minded youth about an issue so close to her heart - 'how to improve support for drought affected communities as a whole'.
"The purpose of the summit is to identify ways that young people of my age can participate in decision-making affecting our lives," Pip said.
"It will also look at how we can shift barriers in attitude to be sure there is focus on prevention strategies for things like mental health and its effect on people in our communities."
The Youth Drought Summit will discuss both the challenges and responses to living with drought.
It will examine ways to strengthen community preparedness for those impacted.
The summit will present an opportunity for those involved to share their own and other's insights and debate their ideas.
Frensham expect that all those students invited to attend the summit will return to their schools and their local communities wanting to share what they have learned.
"There is a large number of girls in our school from farming communities," Pip said.
"They currently affected by drought, and I am looking forward to being able to pass on to them what I learn.
"I will also be able to help non-rural students at Frensham gain an understanding of what some of their peers and their families are going through at home."
Frensham is an outward-looking and forward-thinking boarding school, providing a personalised academic programme, and meaningful, lifelong and valued connections.
- Visit: www.frensham.nsw.edu.au