Waimate High School year 12 student Enya O’Donnell was the representative for Waitaki MP Miles Anderson.
The 16-year-old said it was an amazing experience.
"I told Miles last time I met him I wish they did it every year because I would definitely be going every year.
"It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and I’m really glad I had it and I learned quite a deal from it."
The Youth MPs were given a tour of the Beehive and engaged in group work as well which was presented to the ministers.
There was also a general debate where some Youth MPs gave speeches.
While Enya did not give a speech, she was able to ask an oral question.
She asked what the Ministry of Youth and Development was doing to reduce tall poppy syndrome among youth.
"For me, tall poppy syndrome is a very huge and pressing culture in New Zealand and Australia that I often think is overlooked, especially in school communities.
"We often see tall poppy syndrome within classmates, friends, family, people who are close to you.
"So I thought I’d get it out there, get people thinking about it."
The experience has made her rethink her plans for future study.
Enya said when she first started choosing her NCEA subjects she was "quite science orientated" but now enjoyed the humanities side of things.
"Doing the Youth Parliament has kind of made me realise that ‘oh maybe I do just want to go down the road of doing stuff more with people’."
There was a bit of controversy across the two days as some Youth MPs claimed they were censored and were told to change their speeches.
Mr Anderson said that was not the case.
"If you saw the debates, you could see that there had been certainly no censorship.
"The minister has made a statement around that and a number of the students themselves have said themselves that yes they were given guidance but they were certainly told that there was no censorship."
He said the guidance given was mainly around avoiding defamation.
"Some of the protections that are available to parliamentarians weren’t available to the student politicians."
Youth Parliament gave the participants a close look at how government works, he said.
"It’s a really good way for the younger generation to get an understanding of how the parliament works because it’s quite complex and it’s not as most people think it is.
"They think it’s Donald Trump sitting at a desk signing executive orders and that’s not how it works.
"It’s good to see all those that attended enjoyed the experience."
