TRANSCRIPT
“The world puts such pressure on a young person to reach every bar in every area of academics and life. But really, if you're good at one or two things, focus on them, focus on those one or two things that you're passionate about. And if you pursue them in life, you will do well.”
Sound advice from Kurt Jones.
Now on the cusp of 21, Kurt - who was raised by his grandparents in North Brisbane - struggled in a mainstream classroom environment.
“I had quite a disengaged childhood. I actually ended up going to a flexi school, so a student that was quite disengaged from their education and getting into trouble a lot. And when it came time for me to go into high school into grade seven, I couldn't get into any other mainstream high school. So I was put into a flexischool.”
Young people end up in flexi schools for all sorts of reasons.
Bullying, expulsion, a lack of support at home or simply because mainstream teaching methods just don't work for them.
It's one of the fastest growing types of alternative schooling in Australia - they're either found as an annex to mainstream schools or run independently by different organisations.
For Kurt the shift changed his life.
“It was a struggle. But that school actually helped me a lot through their different ways of educational practices, and I was able to pursue my passions a lot more at a school like that. And I fell in love with the outdoors and nature, through camps and outdoor education. I had a lot of opportunities to build my leadership as a young person. I ended up as the college captain in grade 12. So quite a bit of a turn around from a disengaged kid that was getting expelled and suspended from a lot of primary schools.”
Year 11 also marked a turning point for Kurt.
A school assignment morphed into what is now Coexist - a registered environmental charity.
The assignment involved coming up with an idea for a small business.
Kurt had to put together a business plan, a mission and vision statement as well as a company structure and recruiting process.
The inspiration behind the idea - a school camp to the Mann River Nature Reserve.
“There's sandstone, rocky escarpments, overlooking a beautiful, big valley. There's so much wildlife there from bird life to reptiles. It's just stunning. And that place really is where I fell in love with with nature. And I fell in love with the whole idea that we can actually live alongside nature and how much it benefits our mental health and our thinking, and our relationships with other people.”
Kurt never really expected a simple school assignment to take off the way it has.
“I went to my teacher and said, hey I love wildlife conservation. Would you mind if I did a non for profit charity as my business assessment? She said yes. It wasn't anything real out in the real world. It was just on paper. But as I did it, and as I got to the end of my assessment, I was like, through this process, I've actually really fallen in love with this concept and this idea, and I know that it could actually make a huge difference in the world.”
While in his final year of highschool, Kurt started taking little steps to turn the school assignment into something more.
“In my first year out of school, we officially launched Coexist Australia. And that took a while it took some determination. I had to obviously get a good crew around me that could help me. I also had to build a board of directors to meet the charity obligations. We have a wonderful team now. And we've grown quite a lot and we've had lots of events over the last year. So the last couple of years. It's been crazy.”
Coexist now has seven directors on its board - including an accountant, a school principal, the CEO of another wildlife organisation and a director of philanthropy from another organisation.
And it uses social media to recruit new members and share information.
Here's Kurt on Instagram talking about crocodiles.
“It's really simple. This is our habitat, that is their habitat. That's not our water, that is their territory. They know their territory and they know how to get a feed. Do not bloody go swimming in croc country!”
Kurt also has a day job as a videographer for a couple of different wildlife educators and influencers.
As for Coexist there are now 200 volunteers involved with the charity.
“We want to look at conservation from a different angle, we want to do it differently. Our first step is to get young people outside. Obviously, in the last 10 to 20 years, we've seen a severe decline in young people actually being engaged in the outdoors. That's been a big move since we've seen technology come in. And that's probably why we're seeing such a disconnect with nature. So our first step is recreation. And that's the chance to get young people outside engaging in activities such as hiking, canoeing, snorkeling all these outdoor activities. And then once they're in that space, they're actually learning about the environment, and then that then moves that young person into a headspace of education. “
Kurt says its a gentle yet effective way to encourage people to learn more about the environment and get involved in other activities like tree planting and cleanups.
Coexist uses a collective model, with branches around Australia and charges a small yearly membership fee but anyone can participate for free.
There are currently eight stable branches across the country and any young person who wants to can start their own branch of Coexist.
“Those branches, are led by young people, for young people. They all have a leader, so a collective leader, and then it streams down into a cleanups leader, a tree planting leader, and a recreation leader. And then some of our other bigger collectives have an operations leader and administration, and those types of things. But the whole idea is that these collectives are a community for young people, where they can one, find belonging, and passion and be around like minded young people”
The charity has recently scored its first ever corporate sponsor - a $10,000 grant from eco tourism provider River To Bay
Kurt says the idea has taken off because nothing beats connecting with people in person.
“There's nothing more impactful and important than a personal one on one face to face relationship with a friend or a loved one. And I think that is seriously the backbone of society, and we are missing that link. I think passion and hobbies is really the gateway to building connections and belonging in the community.]]
And you can listen to more episodes in the Change Agents podcast series wherever you get your podcasts.
