CONNECT. EMPOWER. CHANGE.Using

Youth Voice To Shift The Culture And Climate Of

Your School

Matt Gress

Eric Johnson

Jeannie Carr

WHAT IS YOUTH VOICE?

YOUTH VOICE

Youth Voice is the perspectives, ideas, experiences, knowledge,

and actions of young people. Youth voice doesn’t mean talking loudly or shouting to be heard,

and it is not about drowning out other people's voices, including

adults. Youth voice is about considering the perspectives and ideas of young people, respecting what everyone has to say, taking

risks, listening, sharing, and working together.

CULTURE AND CLIMATE

What defines the culture and climate in a

school?

CULTURE AND CLIMATE

Educators and students must work together.

What Is Current Reality?

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

The MAP

This activity focuses on finding alternative routes to obstacles and breakdowns

LISTENING AND COMMUNICATING

The BUG

This activity is a listening/drawing exercise

that illustrates how we listen/communicate from

different perspectives and biases

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never

listen.”

― Ernest Hemingway

How can you empower

students to use youth voice?

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS / WORKING TOGETHER

Human Machines

This activity illustrates that each individual is important to the vision.

Each person is valuable.

“I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you

know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I

figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an

extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some

reason, too.” -Hugo Cabret, Hugo

THE POWER OF 5

THE ULTIMATE TEAM MEMBER

This activity will encourage students to explore their individual and collective

strengths, examining how they will be useful in pursuing their

goals for their school and community.

FIND YOUR

Y

THE MASK

“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is nobody else who is you-er

than you.”

-Dr Seuss“Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent

anyway.”

-Mother Theresa

BE YOURSELF. EVERYONE ELSE IS ALREADY TAKEN.

LAY YOUR WEAPONS DOWN

Empathy is the ability to vicariously feel what another

person is feeling, to understand and connect to

where that person is. In other words, it is the ability to “step into someone else’s shoes.” Empathy is not an emotion; it

is a skill set that can be taught.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

IDEAS THAT WORK

MOVE2STAND is a highly interactive and experiential training that empowers student

leaders to become part of the solution to end bullying and harassment in their

schools and communities.

MOVE2STAND is a one-day youth summit that challenges students to examine their attitudes toward bullying. It is an effort to

create empathy and foster school connectedness by helping young leaders

understand how bullying impacts school climate and their communities.

MORE IDEAS THAT WORKExamples:

Student Leadership Clubs Lunch for Lunch Ladies

Thoughts That Stick Mix It Up

Weeks of Kindness Locker Notes

Videos Flash Mobs

Birthday Social Lunch Bunch Crew

A New Student Welcome Pheack

Welcome Committees

Give Back to the Teachers

Cross Age Mentoring/Presentations

Pay it Forward

You Make A Difference Cards

Catch Someone's Kindness

WHAT WILL YOU BUILD?

THE RAINSTORM

“It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is

shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing

each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those

ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression

and resistance.”

-Robert F. Kennedy in South Africa in 1966

FIND US HERE

www.starsnashville.org/move2standFacebook.com/MOVE2STAND

Twitter@MOVE2STAND

www.starsnashville.org

Connect. Spread The Word.