Students Speak Youth Summit 2025

The 4th Annual Students Speak Youth Summit welcomed over 50 middle and high school students from across the Commonwealth to the Harvard Law School campus. Throughout the day, young people who care about making schools better through elevating student voice gathered in community to work together to build an advocacy agenda for the coming year.

The Youth Summit built on the work that the young people engaged in over the course of the Spring semester.  The day was constructed with a focus on three goals:

Imagining a Vision: What would more student voice/power look like in schools?

Summit attendees engaged in a variety of hands-on activities designed to further the Students Speak mission of building connections and collective power across Massachusetts in order to amplify student voice.

Inspiring Success: What are current and historical examples of youth-led change?

Attendees had the opportunity to critically examine movements that were successful in the past as well as the strategies that were employed, such as protests, petitions, sit-ins and open letters. Additionally, a keynote address was given by two young people, Oliver and Kai, who are currently participating in D-Lab at Somerville High School. D-Lab is a student-led design lab that focuses on civic engagement and addressing community needs. Oliver and Kai shared their inspiring experiences working on projects related to the design of teen spaces in their city.

Setting Priorities: Which bills currently filed in the Massachusetts Legislature would help us to achieve our vision?

Summit attendees looked at a few of the bills the Massachusetts Legislature is considering passing that will impact youth.  After learning more about each of the bills, attendees had the opportunity to talk together about what they wanted to prioritize in their advocacy and voted to identify the bills on which they want to focus their advocacy efforts.  Three bills were identified: S367: An Act Relative to Student Representative Voting; S.462: An Act Establishing Media Literacy Education in Schools to Ensure All Children Are Learning to Analyze, Evaluate, and Responsibly Use the Media; S322: An Act promoting racially and culturally inclusive K-12 curriculum.

This exciting work will continue next school year as the young people develop strategies to advance their advocacy agenda.