Carla Vlaun: We are missing the link that connects young people to nation building

CUPECOY--Researcher and cultural advocate Carla Vlaun called for a stronger, permanent link between young people and the work of governing the country, responding to an onsite poll at the Governor’s Symposium that showed “influencing policy and governance” as the leading role attendees want youth to play over the next fifteen years.

Vlaun said the poll result is not surprising, because choosing policy and governance means youth must be present in every arena. “By choosing influencing policy and governance, we can also equate this with saying that the youth has to be everywhere,” she said. “Policy and governance touches driving innovation and entrepreneurship, preserving culture and environment, and community service and volunteerism.”

She contrasted today with her own high school years. “When I was a high schooler, I felt a lot more like I was at the table,” she said, noting that opportunities for youth participation were more visible when debates around 10-10-10 were active. “Now we see further fragmentation of the inclusion of youth into different initiatives,” she added.

Her central point was the missing link of connection that ties young people to the country while they are still in school. “Now is the perfect moment to really include our youth who are in the school system,” Vlaun said, “who we hope to return into our labor force and our community after their studies. We need to give them now the nation to come back to while they are still in school, not expect them to just feel a sense of commitment to St. Maarten because they are from here.”

Vlaun warned that without that living connection, return and participation become fragile. “If persons do not understand the country that they live in, you do not give them that connection to want to come back and be a part of something,” she said. “You have not told them that there is a place for them to come back to, even as a simple citizen, not only for a job.”

She urged a shift from occasional youth outreach to an enshrined role for young people in policy work. She agreed that there must be room for not only participating but also identifying, creating and co-creating. Not only a school participatory role, but a role that is embedded, so that young people form a strong affinity and bond to country.

Vlaun’s remarks point to three practical reasons this link is essential:

First, continuity. Early exposure to how decisions are made builds habits that carry from the classroom to civic life. When students learn how budgeting, planning, culture, and environmental protection fit together, they return with the skills and confidence to contribute.

Second, belonging. A country is not only jobs and services, it is shared meaning. If students see where they fit in the story of Saint Martin while they are still learning, the choice to return or remain engaged is easier and more durable.

Third, delivery. Policy improves when the people most affected help design it. Youth involvement strengthens programs in education, digital services, climate readiness, culture, and volunteerism, because it brings lived experience into decisions.

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