Holyoke High School North’s students and staff likely could not have imagined that an off-campus one-day Student Summit in Springfield about 13 months ago would so profoundly affect how the school operates—and yet, it did.
“The student Summit was originally going to be a ‘one day in our life’ kind of thing,” said Principal Lori McKenna, “and yet it has become the way that we operate at the Holyoke High School North Campus.”
The changes first started to come into focus in December 2024, when more than 60 students in grades 9-12 gathered in a Springfield conference center for the first-ever, student-facilitated Holyoke High School Student Summit.
This event, put on in partnership with The Barr Foundation and The Learning Agenda over multiple sessions both off-site and at HHS North, was designed to elevate student voices around a central topic: Belonging. Although many staff members worked in partnership to make the event possible, it was students who led the discussions and sparked new ideas for making HHS North a place where everyone belongs.
The impact of the work was undeniable, Ms. McKenna said, and a few months later students met again at HHS North to continue the work, which still continues to grow. In October, two North students traveled with chaperones to New Orleans where they delivered a presentation about their experiences and the impact of their school’s first Student Summit to 150 educational and student leaders from the United States and around the world during the Aurora Institute Symposium.
In December, students at North held their latest Summit event so they can continue their work. Learn more in this short video. The first year of the Summit work focused broadly on student belonging; during this second year, the focus has been narrowed to student belonging in the classroom, Mrs. McKenna said. HHS North is partnering with LiberatEd to support this second phase of work, thanks to the existing partnership between HPS and the Barr Foundation. LiberatED offers an opportunity for educators and students who have participated in The Learning Agenda’s Student Summit to work together as a learning community to clarify and create a plan to help realize their collective vision for school transformation.
Educators and students engage in collaborative learning about establishing mindsets for centering student voice, participating in challenging conversations, and navigating power dynamics related to school transformation. Over the school year, participants will take part in two full-day in-person convenings and three 90-minute virtual sessions, all grounded in liberatory practices, Mrs. McKenna said. These practices aim to create an environment where all students can thrive authentically.