Elevating Student Voice: GRAD Partnership Storytelling Contest in the Black Belt, Northern California

The GRAD Partnership for Student Success focuses on supporting schools as they create and implement student success systems, which center around real-time actionable data, strong supportive relationships, student-centered mindsets, and strategic improvement actions. A key aspect of these strategic improvement actions is incorporating student voice to maximize the effectiveness of interventions. As they closed out their third year of the GRAD Partnership, intermediaries from The University of West Alabama and North State Together took time to reflect on an exciting new project that brings student voice to the forefront.

From the beginning, the GRAD Partnership Rural Cohort has championed the importance of student connectedness and belonging, and participating rural schools have seen this metric as a key to bringing about student success in the areas of attendance, behavior, and course performance; however, a single definition and measurement system for the concept have remained elusive. Understanding this, RSC GRAD Partnership hub leads Annah Rogers and Susan Schroth designed a project that asked students to share more about what being connected to school, or truly belonging, means to them. The students could choose the medium that suited their interests, and took the prompt in diverse directions. Here is what they learned from their inaugural Storytelling Competition:

In his moving essay about finding his place at school, Keiser from Kemper County High School in DeKalb, MS remarked, “even though I won’t be the one crossing the finish line, I know I’ll always be part of something bigger than myself. And maybe, just maybe, that’s what belonging really means.” In speaking about connectedness, Lee from the University Charter School in Livingston, AL eloquently noted that to him, “connectedness is similar to feeling at home; feeling safe with someone, even if it isn't exactly ‘at home.’” When asked what made them feel connected, two students from the Hale County College and Career Academy (Greensboro, AL), Keria and Rayden, spoke about the support from their school and community when starting their JAG Café, a Starbucks inspired coffee shop within the school. Neonia from Sumter Central High School in Livingston, AL shared that it was her teachers and their unwavering support that made her feel connected.

Students in far Northern California have found that participating in extracurricular activities– such as sports teams and programs like Upward Bound or TRIO– has strengthened their connection to high school and broadened their perspectives on college. Sofia from Burney High School reflected that “Upward Bound gave me something positive to focus my time on, rather than just staying up late and sleeping in until the afternoon. It helped me see that I could do so much more than what’s right in front of me.” The GRAD Partnership’s support of programs like those already working to uplift students at rural schools is a key element of its collaborative approach.

Through their active involvement in these programs, students like Sofia and Alejandro are developing a stronger sense of belonging– both in their schools and in their vision for the future. By understanding what students think it means to be connected or to belong, hopefully schools can design better strategies for measuring these key concepts. Incorporating student-centered programs like Susan and Annah’s storytelling contest into student success systems ensures that their voices are heard, elevated, and honored.

Rural Schools Collaborative would like to thank all the schools and students who participated in this contest and shared their stories with us. We would also like to thank Annah Rogers and Susan Schroth for generating this project and sharing this story with us.