Dallas Students Unite: Looking Ahead to the Next Student Voices Program
During the 2016-2017 academic school year, high school students from The Hockaday School, Jesuit College Preparatory School and Thomas Jefferson High School participated in the first student advocacy program in partnership with Leadership ISD. According to Laura Day, Director of Service Learning at Hockaday, the Student Voices program brought together a diverse group of visionary students “to build relationships and explore pressing educational issues and concerns – particularly issues of justice in education – within [Dallas].” Ultimately, the pilot program demonstrated to the North Dallas community that a tremendous appetite exists for breaking down barriers to promote change in public education within high school student leaders.
To build on the success of the first year’s program, the Student Voices program will triple in size for the 2017-2018 school year, with nine network high schools eligible to participate. The diverse group of high school students selected for the upcoming year will partake in a refined, rigorous curriculum to study the Dallas public education system, to foster empathy, and to build advocacy skills. The expanded program aims to create actionable paths for informed and passionate high school student leaders to transform public education in Dallas.
To learn more about the 2016-2017 Student Voices pilot program:
http://hockadayfourcast.org/dallas-students-unite/.
To learn more about the upcoming 2017-2018 program:
WT White, Greenhill, Parish Episcopal