Youth Talks: Students Speak Up About Schools and COVID-19

Students: This program is for you! What do you want to tell or ask adults who are making the decisions that have changed your lives so dramatically over the past few months? Please join us for this free program to share your thoughts, questions, concerns and suggestions.

Ever since the coronavirus shut down schools last spring, the national conversation has swirled around questions of whether and how to reopen. And though the new school year is upon us, we seem to be no closer to a resolution. But amidst all of the controversy, one set of voices has been almost entirely left out of the conversation: that of the students themselves.

Developed by and for students, this program will be an interactive conversation about issues that are on young people’s minds, such as:

  • What do students think about going to school—or not—in the middle of a pandemic?
  • How have they been managing remote learning?
  • What thoughts or worries do they have about social distancing?
  • How have protests and social unrest affected them?

Adults are encouraged to share this rare opportunity with the students in their lives and to listen in on this important conversation.

NOTES

This is a free event

Co-Presented with the Santa Clara County Office of Education

Main image by Elijah Allen

Speakers
Image - Mary Ann Dewan

Dr. Mary Ann Dewan

Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools

Image - Jeff Duncan-Andrade

Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade

Professor of Latina/o Studies & Race and Resistance Studies, San Francisco State University

Image - Victoria McDowell

Victoria McDowell

12th Grade, Evergreen High School, San Jose, California—Co-Host

Image - Vaibava Rajesh

Vaibava Rajesh

9th Grade, Los Gatos High School, Los Gatos, California—Co-Host

Image - Winston Ashby

Winston Ashby

Executive Director, PARTI Program—Moderator