A Highbridge student has this week been elected as a member of the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP).
Thrinayani Ramakrishnan, 15, attends King Alfred School in Highbridge and will represent Sedgemoor.
She campaigned mainly on enabling young people to be ready for the world of work.
Her Deputy Member of Youth Parliament is Chelsea Close, 13, who attends Haygrove School in Bridgwater.
The UKYP has 600 elected MYPs (Members of Youth Parliament) aged 11-18 who are elected representatives of their constituents.
The results were announced at County Hall in Taunton this week and the new MYPs will continue to receive support from Somerset County Council’s Youth and Community Services team during their two year term.
The election process starts with self nomination via schools. Young people are then invited to attend a selection day, where four candidates from each area were selected by their peers to go forward for the open vote.
The selected candidates then attend a Manifesto Day, where each candidate wrote their manifesto which went to schools for young people to read before voting.
The candidates finishing second serve as deputies and Somerset also has an Advisory Group of 30 young people from across the county, which acts as a reference group for the MYPs.
Pictured: Highbridge’s Thrinayani Ramakrishnan with her Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Chelsea Close
