2026 Summer Symposium

Strong school communities are built when students are not only supported, but genuinely engaged as contributors to their learning environments. This session invites educators to explore what it means to lead with students rather than for them by intentionally elevating student voice, agency, and shared ownership.


Through reflection, discussion, and practical examples, participants will examine how everyday practices can strengthen relationships, deepen engagement, and foster a sense of belonging. Educators will leave with actionable strategies to create classroom and school environments where connection, collaboration, and collective responsibility drive meaningful learning.

To elevate our impact, we must first sustain our well-being. This restorative session offers educators a "protected space" to move from the high-energy demands of the classroom into a state of calm and clarity. Grounded in the understanding that our internal state directly influences our students' sense of safety, we will explore the Reflect and Restore framework. Participants will engage in guided reflective journaling, accessible chair yoga to release physical tension, and breathwork techniques designed for immediate classroom or home use. This isn't just a break—it’s a somatic reset that honors your identity as both a professional and a person.

Bullying prevention efforts often rely on incident reports, referrals, or anonymous surveys—tools that tell us what happened, but rarely reveal how students are actually experiencing school on a daily basis. This session introduces a proactive, SEL-based bullying prevention tool designed to surface students’ academic phenomenology—their lived emotional, social, and psychological experience of learning environments—before harm escalates.
Developed by Dr. Kierra Pickens, International Psychologist and therapist, and field-tested in school settings by Devon LaRosa, this innovative tool provides educators and student services staff with intentional, actionable insight into students’ sense of safety, belonging, power, and engagement across academic spaces. Rather than waiting for behavior to signal distress, the tool allows schools to listen earlier, intervene thoughtfully, and design learning environments that reduce bullying at the root.
In this session, participants will explore how this proactive approach supports SEL, strengthens prevention efforts, and equips schools with meaningful data that connects student experience to academic outcomes—helping adults respond with clarity, compassion, and precision.