​Bringing students together to empower youth with leadership skills is one of the goals of the Canadian Red Cross Healthy Youth Relationships program.

Olivia Scrimshaw, a student at City Park School, was one of the students who attended a recent Red Cross symposium, one of the ways in which students become better equipped to serve their schools and communities.

She shared what she learned, and the effect it had on herself and her classmates, through a Q&A interview with the Red Cross Talks blog.

"We enhanced skills while we were there that are important in having a healthy and happy school environment," she said. "The 17 people we brought from our school now have the job to share it with the rest of our classmates and school. The lessons we learned will be even more effective if everyone can work towards the goal together."

To learn more about the symposium and what Olivia and her City Park classmates experienced you can read the Q&A feature at Red Cross Talks.

As part of its Safe, Caring and Accepting schools core strategy, Saskatoon Public Schools partners with the Canadian Red Cross to provide training for student leadership. More than 75 students from nine schools took part in the youth symposium. This is the third year students have taken part in this leadership opportunity.

Students are trained in providing workshops for other students on creating healthy and respectful relationships and on being upstanders when they witness bullying behaviour. Students return to their schools from the symposium and provide workshops, take leadership in Day of Pink activities and work with school staff in creating safe, caring and accepting schools.