On Monday, Feb. 16, high school students from across Missouri will congregate in Jefferson City, Missouri for the first ever Youth Advocacy and Leadership Summit, founded by the Missouri State PTA in partnership with the Missouri School Board Association. Missouri State PTA president Kim Weber said the interactions of 30 students at the convention in October demonstrated a need for student voices at the Capitol.
“The students spent an entire 90 minute segment just discussing rules, policies and in general what is going on at their different schools across the state. It was amazing to see the interaction that was happening,” Weber said. “While sharing this amazing story with some of the leaders from the Missouri School Board Association, an idea was generated that the folks in Jefferson City needed to hear this from the students and those students from convention need to take their stories to the Capital.”
Students interested in attending the summit had to fill out permission forms by Monday, Feb. 2, and RBHS PTSA President Deb Linneman said 27 students signed up to attend. After learning the number of students representing RBHS, Weber said it shows the “great student leadership and dynamic ownership RBHS takes.” For junior Zoya Khan, this is an opportunity to further develop advocacy and leadership skills.
“I think [these skills are] important to have for any individual who wants to express their opinion in a community” Khan said. “It’s really easy to know the facts and your own opinion, but actually carrying your ideas out requires a lot of compromise and patience, which I hope to learn more about at the summit.”
After signing up, Khan read more about the summit and looks forward to the discussing the topics with other kids because she has strong opinions about mental health, school lunch, technology and state assessments. Weber said the Missouri PTA asked students in October what problems they faced at their schools.
“Missouri PTA was looking for mutual [problems] facing all of our students and schools and these are the four main concerns and challenges that were rising to the top from across the state,” Weber said. “We want the students to share this again with the state education officials and are hoping to have even greater representation of more students from all regions of the state.”
Weber said the goal of the summit is to help education officials and legislators hear directly from students about how what happens on the House and Senate floor impacts the students. While Missouri PTA wanted to start the conversation, she said they want students to continue to communicate with their local representatives and senators. Weber said if the officials hear student voices, maybe the elected official won’t forget what the main focus should always be, which is making every child’s potential a reality.
While Khan agrees that students’ voices on the current subjects are important, she also said student voices are important for the future.
“It’s important for students to be well-educated about the world and have the feeling that they can do something to help advocate for themselves,” Khan said. “For me, learning how to get everyone, not just the outspoken people, to contribute in a group setting is hard and a skill I would like to improve.”
By Emily Franke