Hosted by James Sheahan Catholic High School, close to 30 students from seven of the region's high schools gathered at an event of firsts for Orange, dubbed 'The Youth Summit'.

The open-floor-style workshop hears school leaders throw their ideas and concerns around, discussing what they feel already works well in the community before getting into "the nitty gritty".

"One concern is the increased prevalence of mental health issues, especially in regional New South Wales, and even more so since coming out of COVID," James Sheahan's school captain, Sophia Bayada said.

A blend of public, private and special purpose schools across Orange and Molong were represented, with those in attendance from high schools James Sheahan Catholic, Anson Street, Orange Anglican Grammar, Kinross Wolaroi, Molong Central, Canobolas Rural Tech and Orange High.

Leaning into more academic-based events, OHS captain, Andreas Kuegler felt that while the Central West's heavily-based sports culture is great for many, it does, in turn, tend to exclude those with other main interests.

"Mental health is a massive issue for young people and we need a lot more stuff in Orange for people to do with their friends and to engage with, in order to stop those feelings of loneliness, for example, before they start," Mr Kuegler said.

"There's a lot of sporting events with schools - and that's great for people who love sports - but we don't have a lot of options for those of us who are more academic - we could maybe have interschool mathematics competitions and different things like this happening.

"It just doesn't have a lot that includes everyone, like for academics, musicians and artists - so we're really trying to have everyone involved [as opposed to] mainly just having those sports-based events."

Inclusivity for minority groups relating to gender and sexuality, people with a disability and the Indigenous community were also tabled.

"I think we need to make sure that there's always access and services ready for these [groups] and acquire more for the needs and demands a little bit more than what we have," James Sheahan captain, Hugh Thornhill said.

"We definitely have things in place that are supportive and account for [these groups], but I think it's more so making sure it's always going to be there as "the norm" rather than an add-on - we want to set better standards to start the building blocks and rewrite the script."

Anson Street School captain, Nathaniel McMillon echoed these views, saying he also wanted to see a "safer" place to live in.

"Mental health is important, especially for young people and as a person of Indigenous descent myself, I think [both of these issues are] really important," Mr McMillon said.

"I want to see the community being stronger and safer among each other too and less bad stuff happening - maybe we could set up more programs where youth feel less inclined to [misbehave]."

Vice caption at Canobolas Rural Technology High School, Jorjah White felt a personal motivation when it came to believing more representation is needed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the region, particularly having lost a close friend to suicide in 2021.

"Last year, one of my mates passed away and he was a young Indigenous man, so I think - even more than before - it's important to me to bring more awareness to having more focus on support services and the Indigenous population," Miss White said.

"We need to have more awareness [around these issues], especially in schools, because nobody should have to go through that. Even having more community events to advertise specific resources that are in place and there and what kind of services are available to get the idea out to every young person in Orange."

The event's inception started with a 'meet and greet' breakfast in March earlier this year and has been supported by council through facilitation and sponsorship to foster what will, at this stage, continue on as a yearly meet for the students.

"It's great that our leadership teams from local schools are putting the effort in and creatively thinking about the future; about the problems that they're facing and how they think things could be better," council's communications officer, Allan Reeder said.

"Orange City Council thought it was a fantastic opportunity to facilitate in helping them come up with their solutions, because they're not just the future, they're now - it's now."

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