Outcomes from previous Youth Policy Summit experiences

Since 2004, The Keystone Center Youth Policy Summits have involved 120 students from 20 NCSSSMST schools in 12 states. Following their participation in the Summit, these students returned as senior leaders in their school system. The leadership skills learned by the students that attend a summit are shared as they engage others in similar discussions at their school. When these students return to participate in the building committees for their school and/or district, a greater population is impacted. If by presenting and enacting some of the recommendations developed at the summit, each participating student positively affects 100 to 400 students and community members within and surrounding their own school, this program of 40 students has the potential to reach and affect 1,000 to 4,000 people each year.

The following are examples of students sharing the leadership skills learned and the student recommendations from past Summits with their communities:

Battle Creek Area Math and Science Center, Battle Creek, MI
Following their attendance at the 2006 Youth Policy Summit, all four students from Battle Creek Area Math and Science Center were invited to become members of the Calhoun County, Michigan Health Committee, became founding members of their school’s health committee and presented at the tri-county school health conference. Their input is helping to determine policies that will affect thousands of people in the county. Following their presentation to school administrators and teachers of their summit experience and the resulting report, the students provided recommendations for school health policies that could potentially impact thousands of students in dozens of districts. Two students were asked to be part of the committee for the first annual Michigan School Health Summit held at Lakeview High School in Battle Creek, which was attended by hundreds of students from across the state of Michigan. In a few short months since the 2006 summit, these students have had a positive impact in improving school nutrition for the 350 students at their school. In addition, the four students were featured in two major articles in the Battle Creek Enquirer.

Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology, Conyers, GA
Following the 2006 Summit, the four students from Rockdale Magnet School presented their recommendations at their School Board meeting. That presentation prompted a request for a meeting with the county director, and subsequently the county food service director. The food service director shared the strategies she has implemented to improve the nutritional value of the foods served in the cafeteria and challenged the students to help organize a Nutrition Action Committee comprised of students that are concerned about the nutritional value of foods available on campus, including vending machines. These students will accompany the food service director to the Board’s work session to outline nutrition improvement plans for the rest of the school year.

Academy of Science and Technology, Conroe, Texas
Following the 2005 Youth Policy Summit, three students from the Academy of Science and Technology, Steven Gohlke, Meagan Geuther, and Paige Ibanez, were invited to present their findings at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Regional Symposium entitled Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity: Focus on Schools. Sponsored in collaboration with the Kansas Health Foundation and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The reactions of IOM Conference attendees to the students’ presentation indicated that the students represented The Keystone Center Youth Policy Summit very well. Many commented on the level of thought and discussion that went into the Summit findings. Some were delighted that many of the recommendations made by the students were similar to the ones made in the Institute of Medicine publication Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Others were impressed with the eloquence and professionalism exhibited by the students.

The impact felt by Conference attendees is perhaps best illustrated by a comment made by Dr. Jeffery Koplan, Chair of the IOM Committee on Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity, "The students from the Conroe, Texas, Academy of Science and Technology provided a unique and exciting contribution to the conference. They offered a thoughtful and sophisticated perspective on both practical and policy issues related to childhood obesity. The speakers were articulate and interesting and brought credibility to their remarks based both on their demographic proximity to the age group at risk and the intelligence of what they said. We were honored and delighted to have them actively participate in and contribute to the Conference."

Additional comments from students and teachers share their intentions to disseminate the student recommendations as well as the Summit activities:

“The work from the summit will occupy three weeks of my Medical Ethics and Leadership course, providing the main leadership component of the course. We are including all the major activities from Keystone, including topic and stakeholder papers, policy development, negotiation strategy, expert panelists, student presentations, mediation sessions, and the culminating product of a series of recommendations to the Governor of NC.

I have lined up three experts already: a grocery store marketing specialist, a nutritionist from the county health department, and a professor from the Dept. of Community and Family Medicine at Duke University. I am working on getting a state representative from the NC General Assembly, 2 to 3 people from RJR/Nabisco or Coke or Hardees or Lance Foods, and someone from the eatsmartmovemore project. We have worked for years to put more leadership training into the ethics and leadership curriculum. This project looks to be by far the best thing yet.”
- Steve Warshaw, Teacher, The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, NC

“What a wonderful experience The Keystone Center Youth Policy Summit was for NCSSSMST students! It certainly was leadership development in action. I imagine years from now, the students who participated will look back and realize the caliber of the expert panel, the realism of the negotiation process and importance of interpersonal skills in their role as leaders. As a trained instructional designer with 20 years of experience, I am frankly, not easily impressed.

However, I felt the Policy Summit had a wonderful design. The curriculum was thoughtful, organized and set the framework for the students to succeed in a realistic simulation. The entire week had a great mix of serious instructional activity, combined with team-building, outdoor education and recreation. I look forward to a continuing partnership between The Keystone Center and the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology. I trust it will continue to provide innovative, high quality, relevant programs for the truly outstanding students served by Consortium schools across the country.”
- Tom Morgan, Ph.D., Director, Central Virginia Governor’s School for Science and Technology, Lynchburg, VA

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