Kudos to Devonport local Jack Downs who was recently appointed as the Devonport-Takapuna representative on Auckland Council’s Youth Advisory Panel.  The 20-strong panel helps identify issues that are important to young people and provides advice on Council’s regional strategies, policies and plans.  Together with two other panel members, Jack’s off to Beijing next month for the Beijing Sister City Youth Foundation where young people from 80 countries throughout the world will gather for the week-long information-sharing event.

 

Jack’s perfectly placed to bring entrepreneurial knowledge to the younger generation. Along with three other Takapuna Grammar School senior students, Jack designed and developed the Trident Weather app, which gives location information and forecasts on temperatures, tides, wind direction, wind speeds and swells.  The app helped win the group the Best Digital Tech Company award at last year’s Callaghan Innovation awards in conjunction with YES, the Lion Foundation Youth Enterprise Scheme.

And when he’s not designing award-winning apps and advising on issues that affect young people, Jack’s the in-house Shopify specialist with cloud tech consultancy The Instillery.