Giving Students a Voice for Their Own Stories

Social Media

What's your superpower?

In public education, everyone has one. But in the midst of everything else going on in the world, whose superpowers are we letting go unnoticed?

Students want to be heard, represented and supported, and our purpose in the equation is to help them succeed. In precarious times, it’s important to keep that in mind. We sometimes get wrapped up in numbers, and while they are important in keeping a school district operating, putting a face to why we do what we do is something we cannot afford to forget.

People want something they can connect with. When human connections are formed they evolve into trust. In education, student voices contain an authenticity that everyone can connect with. From a marketing perspective, they are our “customers” who can give their testimonials for others to believe in and invest in our organization.

Alternative Spokespeople

In today’s world, social media provides storytelling tools that give us the power to reach thousands within seconds. But as Marvel Comics taught us, with great power comes great responsibility, and how we use the tools and sources is what really counts. Working smarter, not harder, is more crucial than ever before.

In school communications, we often have our go-to spokespeople: Those great on-camera individuals who can get the message out without spending hours editing “ums” and “aahs” in post-production (as a videographer, I thank these people!). But what if, rather than our experts, we turned to our students to tell those stories?

With nearly 22,000 students at Kenosha Unified School District, located in southeastern Wisconsin, we have not only been using student voices to represent our marketing and communication efforts, we’ve also found value in giving students an opportunity to tell their own stories.

We launched our Unified Heroes campaign in 2016 to highlight the stories of students who have big dreams, have risen above the odds or have faced unimaginable challenges. Through the use of video and imagery, we introduced these young heroes to our community and beyond by sharing their stories on our social media platforms, primarily Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Their stories immediately went viral. It turns out, if you give your students a voice, people will listen and share and want to hear more, which is exactly what happened for our Unified Heroes.

Following the launch, an elementary school organized a schoolwide art project around the stories and hosted a Unified Heroes meet-and-greet for students and families — they acted as if they were meeting celebrities!

They also were celebrated through an op-ed column our superintendent wrote for the local newspaper, which sparked a feature story in the same publication and coverage from regional TV stations. The public support from our leaders amplified these student voices. (Don’t forget about this superpower!)

Tales of Determination

But beyond all the incredible things that happened for and because of our Unified Heroes, the thing that will forever stick with me, even more than their unique and incredible stories, is the students’ courage. Every one of them opened up without hesitation to people who barely knew them. They trusted us with their world for the pure hope that it would somehow make a difference in another life.

What we need to keep in mind is that striving to make a difference is a common theme among our youth today. Making a change, no matter how small, is something so many feel determined to do, despite adversities they may have faced in life.

We all want to be heard. We all want to feel valued. We all want to belong to something. Make sure your students know and trust that your school or district is a safe place to express themselves. You never know what they may have to say and the impact it may have on the world.

Find the stories. Give them light. Meet Kenosha Unified School District’s Unified Heroes at www.kusd.edu/unifiedheroes.