Education: At summit, local students collaborated to study issues

Seventh and eighth grade students from Henniker Community School and Weare Middle School attended the Youth Voice Summit at St. Anselm’s Institute for Politics on Dec. 7. The summit, which was sponsored by the national civics education organization The Mikva Challenge, sought to give students the opportunity to research and discuss issues that impact society.

The Youth Voice Summit was an event for New Hampshire students in grades 6-12. Besides Henniker and Weare there were also students from Groveton, Littleton, Concord, Bow and Pittsfield. Before the summit, students chose issues they were passionate about and did work in advance to prepare for the event. Issues chosen by students included criminal justice, the environment, the economy, mental health, healthcare, bullying, education and animal rights.

At the summit, students from different grades and schools were grouped together based on the issues they chose. In 2 1/2 hours, they worked together to research and design a presentation about their topic and solutions. These were presented to the other groups and to civic partners, adults representing state non-profits, agencies and community organizations.