Student Voice Summit Recap: Aiming for Action and Agency

A Look Back

In May, Mindful Practices and Class Catalyst were honored to host our first annual Student Voice Summit: Aiming for Action and Agency, featuring youth voices from across the United States. Led entirely by K-12 students, our Student Voice Summit featured student speakers, performers, artists, panelists, and interviews from a diverse group of students of all ages. Students stepped from comfort into courage, and shared their opinions, struggles, and perspectives on mental health and wellness; SEL; race and equity; COVID-19 and remote learning; leadership, and youth involvement in our world, and their hopes for the future.

During the process of filming and recording these dynamic students, a common theme kept reappearing when the students were done with their presentation or performance. Many shared that it “just felt good” and empowering to be seen and heard. Several expounded on their hope that by sharing their raw experiences and truths, their peers would not feel so alone and they would know that there was a community supporting them—even if they have not met in-person.

Do you have students who might be interested in participating in next year’s Student Voice Summit?

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Student Needs In Their Own Words:

Highlights from the 2021 Student Voice Summit

Student Voice Through Creative Expression:

Poetry, Songs and Art from 2021 Student Voice Summit

Post-Summit Workshop

Social emotional learning (SEL) has become an integral part of general education over the past decade, and the need for effective training around implementation with students is more crucial now than ever. Through our partnership with Shelby Chaney of STILL WE R.I.S.E and college-aged student Parker, Mindful Practices offered a Post-Student Voice Summit Workshop on culturally competent practices geared toward all educators (classroom teachers, social workers, counselors, paraprofessionals, administrators, support staff, etc.) in an effort to continue the positive momentum catalyzed by the Student Voice Summit.

By exploring case studies and discussions, the Post-Student Voice Summit Workshop training brought awareness to conversations around acknowledging that everyone experiences exposure to recent events in different ways, and that differences in experience lead to differences in impact. Participants were also invited to examine biases at play, and how the practice of self-exploratory work helps to support leading intentional and equitable conversations with young people. Integrating SEL with high-quality culturally inclusive training touches on critical components of self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and responsible decision making.

Educator Resources

Provided by Shelby Chaney, Still We R.I.S.E., LLC

Questions? Please send an email to Mindful Practices at hello@mindfulpractices.us or Shelby Chaney of WE STILL R.I.S.E., at stillwerisellc@gmail.com using “Student Voice Summit” in the subject line.