A 21-year-old turning a gap year into a lifeline for students

Not all changemakers wear suits or hold titles. Some are 21-year-olds in classrooms, guiding second-chance students through Shakespeare, climate change, and the basics of the law.

This year’s International Youth Day celebrates ‘Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond’; and in Papua New Guinea (PNG), young leaders like Mevlyn Morrisson are showing how one person’s daily commitment can transform lives. Taking a gap year from university, she has turned her passion for education into a mission to inspire, tutor, and open doors for students who’ve been told school wasn’t for them.

Young people in PNG are often treated as recipients of change. Rising youth leaders are challenging that view, making small, sustained contributions that add up, driven by hard work and purpose.

For Mevlyn, the motivation is personal. She grew up with significant responsibility and adversity, which shapes the empathy she brings to her students.

“I was raised in very harsh environments too, I’d say. I was helping my dad raise my sisters, raise myself. It provided a lot of challenges growing up. So, whenever I identify the students who have similar issues that I've already gone through, I try to encourage them from the viewpoint that I've been where you are and that I know what you're going through and that it's going to get better.”

At 21, and on a gap year from her second year of Law at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), she has taken her advocacy a step further by tutoring Language & Literature, Social Studies, and Legal Studies at the Asia-Pacific Multicultural College.

Many of her learners are “second chance” students — young people who missed out on a place elsewhere and are rebuilding confidence. Motivation is often the hurdle, compounded by environments that can reinforce negative behaviour.

Mevlyn keeps her approach firm but kind, centring respect and clear expectations: “More of a ‘I understand how you feel but this is for your good so you have to change’ and less of ‘I am your teacher, and you should listen to me’.”

Her students respond to that combination of empathy and structure. Their progress shows that teaching goes beyond textbooks; it starts with trust, consistency, and belief in their potential.

Tutoring also sharpens her own learning. “When I stepped into tutoring Legal Studies, I realised that I'm relearning this concept again, and it just makes me understand the workings of that course better than when I was in university and just going to class, getting notes, sitting down, and reading.”

And it renews her sense of purpose. “I try to introduce opportunities to them and give them a sort of guidance to live their life. That really motivated me. Just seeing them start to come out of their shells a little bit. I love seeing that. And that just motivated me to honestly just be a better person. Doing this has really reaffirmed my values. I really found my passion in helping people again.”

As Papua New Guinea marks International Youth Day, Mevlyn’s story is a reminder that leadership doesn’t always come with a title or an office. It can look like a young woman standing at the front of a classroom, offering her students not just lessons, but a belief in their own potential. These are the small, steady acts that can change the course of a life, and, in time, a community.