The Christian County Chamber of Commerce Partners in Education heard a presentation from the Prichard Committee Student Voice Team at a luncheon Monday afternoon.
The Student Voice Team is a group of high school juniors or seniors from across the state who travel to schools to see what students are thinking and take their concerns to legislatures or school districts. The initiative has been successful, including being involved in the March for Our Lives following school shootings and making sure the money raised by the Powerball lottery was spent on helping students attend college.
Team Member Keeton Conner attends Marshall County High School, and says she became involved after the January shooting that killed two students at that school when she realized she needed to become active for things to change.
Rachel Bellin with the Prichard Committee leads the team and explained what they do, including giving students a chance to be heard and gathering supporters.
Member Jaylen Gordon says the best thing teachers, school board members and legislators can do is listen to students when they approach you and respect those concerns.
The group has travelled to multiple schools in the past year and gotten the stories of students who often feel left behind or forgotten, and complied them into a book. The book is titled “Ready or Not: Stories from Students Behind the Statistics”.