The Alaska Association of School Boards met last week, Nov. 7-10, to host its 71st annual meeting in Anchorage . The four-day event brought together school board members, educators and youth leaders from across the state to discuss critical issues in education and to celebrate the power of student leadership.

In addition to the primary conference, the four-day Youth Leadership Conference happened in concurrence with AASB meeting to provide a unique platform for youth who are members of the statewide Educators Rising program. The four-day youth conference offered an opportunity for youth from across the state to share their vision of education in Alaska.

Educators Rising “is a diverse, teacher and student-led grassroots movement that aims to inspire high school and college students to serve their communities by entering the field of education,” according to their web page hosted on the University of Alaska website.

The nationwide program provides the opportunity for high school students to practice the skills necessary to lead a classroom through teacher mentorship, national conferences, competitions and an established curriculum such as leadership and development, educational development and psychology and classroom planning and management.

Homer junior, Morgan Carlson-Kelly, is the 2024-25 president of Educators Rising and attended the conference event for the third time last week. She said seven students — who make up the officers and two representatives — came from communities across the state to meet each other, receive various forms of training and have structured interaction with school board members from the districts in the state.

Carlson-Kelly said a key focus of the youth session was an emphasis on healthy and positive communication and dialogue skills. Students were introduced to the concept of “the Dignity Index.” The key idea in this communication tool is that personal disagreements or differences in opinion don’t necessarily cause divisions or social disruptions, but that people need to learn to disagree in a respectful way.

She said the best thing about participating in Educators Rising is the opportunity to not just meet school board members but legislators and other government leaders. She said students in the district don’t realize how many opportunities are available to participate in programs like this.

“There are so many more students who could have these same experiences if they just saw themselves doing it,” she said.

With both school board and legislative representatives present at the event, she also said she gets the sense that they really appreciate the opportunity to hear voices from youth in their communities. She noted one Anchorage representative who told her that he’s criticized during the legislative session but when he’s back at home in Anchorage, the community rarely engages with him about what they’d like to see happening in state politics.

In one session of the general AASB meeting, students were asked to join a panel discussion entitled “youth in leadership.” The introduced themselves and responded to questions posed by adult educators. The following was Carlson-Kelly’s introduction.

“Students in this room and out are preparing for a future. When we graduate to become contributing adults to our communities and schools and states and countries. But for us to succeed, we need the foundation of a strong education.

“Education is the bridge between our potential and impact we can have on our community. Without the education we need, we won’t have the knowledge to step into the goals to be and be successful. We are ready, but we need your help and support to get there. I invite you to be a part of the journey with us, whether you’re a student, teacher, chaperone, superintendent or on the school board, we all have a part to play, and with the right resources, guidance and respect for each other, students will be prepared to lead, make a difference and give back as a whole, we can all make sure that every student feels valued, empowered and ready to take on the world.”