Student Voice provides students with the platform to change their schools and communities. We meet students where they are and identify student-centric solutions that address the systemic inequity in the American education system.
Students revealed issues within their school, ranging from harassment of LGBT students to crumbling facilities. Within the hour long roundtable table, the students’ perception of their role within the school changed: students discovered that their voice was important and they could take an active role in decision making in their school.
Student Voice worked with the Swansea Chapter to expand its network outside of their district by connecting them with students impacted by inequity across the state and other student groups in Iowa and Texas.
By the time that the Student Voice team returned to Swansea, the chapter had organized a summit for students across the state to create an action plan for improving education equity, engaged in South Carolina Student Lobby Day, worked with their faculty to create a student feedback process through project based learning , successfully advocated for a 25.4 million dollar bond referendum to update district facilities, and worked with state decision-makers to discuss how South Carolina funding could be changed in order to support low-income schools. Student Voice continues to support Swansea students by providing platforms for further amplification of their successes.
There is no cost to have Student Voice come to your school! All expenses and costs are covered by a generous grant from Facebook Education and the Facebook Community Leadership Program.
Student Voice’s tour will continue through August, September, and early October of 2019. We can be flexible depending on your school schedule and structure, but as all of our team members are students, Thursdays and Fridays are best for visits to take place.
One of our team members! You can read about the Student Voice team here.
There are three main activities that we offer on a school visit: a workshop, a roundtable, and a storytelling session. In a roundtable, a Student Voice team member facilitates a conversation in which students discuss the state of their school. Currently in schools, students are asked to think critically about everything but school itself! A roundtable creates a structured space for students to think about what school is like and what school can be. In a workshop, students engage in an activity in which they conceptualize what their ideal school looks like. Then, students collaborate to identify issues in their school they'd like to address and develop an actionable plan to work with adults to seize opportunities for improvement. During a storytelling session, students engage in activities that exhibit the power of storytelling as an entry point to authentic and productive conversations and reveal the potential of storytelling to be used as a means to create empathy and change.
We hope that a visit from Student Voice empowers students to become changemakers, reveals the importance of their voices in their school and community, and mobilizes them to channel their passion into the formation of a Student Voice Chapter. The chapters program provides students with resources, curriculum, professional development opportunities, and support in creating a Student Voice club in their school to elevate student perspectives in policy decisions. Additionally, we hope that all students join Youth United for Action (YU4A), an online community for youth activists and changemakers.
Within the next day, you’ll receive an email from Megan Simmons, our Director of Strategy, so that you can schedule a phone call to talk about your school and plan a visit.
