Building a Future That Works (2018 Conference)

For last week class we attended a student-centered research conference where their were different workshops available to attend. The first session I was honored to attend was " Student Ownership through Student Voice: An Investigation of Student Agency in and beyond the School Walls".

In this session, the main focus was a way of how educators can engage students in thinking about policies that need to be changed in their schools and the community. The first Presenter, Carlos Hipolito-Delgado. School Counselor and currently a Professor at the University of Colorado in Denver. First asks the crowd, as he talks loud to make known his presence in the room. He starts off by asking, "What are some policies you believe impact youth?" and "Your name and where are you coming from?". This question immediately brought me to actually focus on daily issues and concerns youth have. My response was related to a group of youth I have worked with last year. " Youth who come from another country and have trouble transitioning into the education system in the US." I said. Fingers started to snap in the room, I felt happy because I am one of those students. Youth were the obvious main focus in the room, and it was powerful having educators from across the state share their perspective. As the presentation continued, the following presenter shared a video of a presentation students did in front of 160 teachers. The presentation was about the issues students face in the school, the discrimination, the unfair treatment, and disconnect between the faculty/teachers.

as students took turn, they presented quotes from students in the school who have been a victim of racism and other discrimination. The students in the video did engage in purposeful play as they learned to present data to the audience and meet standards. In contrast, although their knowledge of content was there! much of the enthusiasm was missing to capture the audience attention. The facilitators that were there mentioned that "time" was a restriction to having a engaging presentation. The adults were leading with Youth and doing the best of they can with the limited time they had.

The 3 elements were present in the presentation. 1. Care 2. Identity 3. Advocacy and Social Justice. Facilitators and educators were there to learn how they can better support the youth in which they work with!