Leah and other aspiring youths from across Australia got to meet with members of Parliament and shared their ideas on how to positively help their communities at the Heywire Summit.

This year Leah wrote about sun safety and shared the story of her grandpa and his life working in scorching temperatures and in the sun on his property between Narromine and Dubbo.

She detailed how views on sun safety had changed over time.

Leah’s story was just one of the many winning entries from a range of youths from across the nation who entered in the Heywire competition, which enabled them to journey to Canberra.

Leah and the other winners met with members of Parliament, trained at the Australian Institute of Sport and helped develop ideas to help improve the lives of young people in Australia.

The all-expenses-paid trip to the Heywire Summit, is held annually in Canberra each February.

“Yeah it’s going really good. I’m just playing basketball at the moment with the AIS athletes,” Leah said when Fairfax Media spoke to her on the morning of Tuesday, February 7.

During the Summit the 30 plus young participants got the chance to sit in on Parliament and test out the TV newsreader's desk at ABC Canberra.

They also worked together in groups to develop ideas, which would make positive changes in their communities.

The project Leah and her group were working on was the idea of people donating old computers to people living in remote areas so that a they could have access to the internet.

“Some of the girls in my group are from the islands off Queensland and have no internet,” Leah explained as what was the reason behind her groups project.

To make these projects a reality and help youths in rural and regional Australia, community organisations are invited to apply for a grants of up to $10,000 from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR).

To read more of Leah’s story, or to check out  the other winning Heywire entries, just head to  http://www.abc.net.au/heywire/