2018 Youth Summit
The 2018 Youth Summit took place on Friday, September 28, 2018, as part of the 4th Quadrennial Race and Pedagogy National Conference (RPNC). During the Summit, the Race & Pedagogy Institute and its student facilitators offered a platform for youth to share energy, collect voice, engage in critical thinking, reflect on issues related to rights and freedoms, and to consider their role in transforming systems of inequity and injustice.
Histories of Power | Expressions of Resistance, and New Actions for Justice
Histories of Power
A Youth Summit tradition includes sharing stories with local civil rights leaders through a format called Elder Circles. Through this activity, students will be allowed to connect with the stories of the generations that have come before them to gain a new understanding of the work that these civil rights leaders have put forth in the past. Through this intergenerational sharing act, students and elders will be able to engage with each other to pass on histories of empowerment and help share knowledge between the generations.
Expressions of Resistance
This section of the Youth Summit serves to help students understand the power of their voice, both spoken and unspoken, through different mediums of art. Students will understand expressions as forms of resistance through art that can help with the push for action, change, and movements forward.
New Actions for Justice
One of the Youth Summit planning goals for this year was to connect high school and middle school students with the elders within the community and connect students with college students at the University of Puget Sound and beyond. Through this section of the Youth Summit, participants will be able to engage with students from the University of Puget Sound through conversations about experiences within the school systems, stories of empowerment, and resources found both on and off school campuses.
Participation by School
The Youth Summit target audience is high school students with middle school students as schools/classes/organizations/parents deem appropriate. All high schools students are welcome. School districts and youth organizations from around Puget Sound are bussed in, and in 2018 more than 500 students participated in the Youth Summit. Below is the makeup of the 2018 Youth Summit by school.
