Many Granville students, teachers and administrators presented ideas about developing student agency at the 2025 Student Power Summit held at the Cherry Valley Lodge in Newark this past weekend.
The Student Power Summit is a two day in-person workshop with speakers and lectures on topics ranging from sustainability and the environment to student autonomy and taking charge of their own learning.
Last year, the district adopted a Student Choice Initiative in response to concerns about student mental well-being and unhealthy stress. At GHS, English teacher E.B. Smith started a student directed learning (SDL) class. She said being a part of this summit was a big deal.
“It was a unique opportunity,” Smith said.
The creator Dr. Mike Nicholson has been in the education industry for thirty years and founded Learning InspirED based on the notion that students need their own agency to enjoy learning. He started the summits in 2022 and personally invited Smith to talk about her experience with SDL.
“I was so proud to see the band play and our students represent the district as session presenters, tour guides, panel members, and contributors,” Smith said. “This is truly what the conference was all about: making students advocates for their education.”
Since the summit was near Granville, the district was on a pedestal for the administrators and students from around Ohio and the United States to study. Some attendees visited the high school to get a feel for how GHS operates. The Land Lab was a popular exhibit as it is mostly student run.
Additionally, many GHS students interested in SDL spoke on a panel. Some students even went to the summit to speak on student autonomy as well.
Seniors Miho Gillespie, John Whiting and junior Liam Householder presented about an innovative hybrid science class they have proposed for Mr. Reding’s class next year called Sustainable Solutions. This class will aim to teach seniors to use their passions to help the community, and recognize the portrait of a graduate standards nurtured in the school.
“We knew it would be a good step in actually getting the course implemented into the school and give us greater knowledge of the education system and the SDL environment that Granville is trying to emanate,” Gillespie said.
Senior Lani Casto presented with Smith about the SDL class. Casto shared their experience with student directedness.
“The Student Power Summit was not only a unique opportunity, but one that has given me insight into who I want to be and what I want to do with my life,” Casto said.
Other teachers from GHS spoke at the event as well. Mr. Patterson and Mrs. McDonald presented their class experiment with student directed learning in an Integrated Analysis and Physics (IAP) class. Additionally, superintendent Jeff Brown spoke about the importance of student agency.
Next year’s summit will be held in Los Angeles, Calif., so the opportunities the students had this year were once-in-a-lifetime. It will be hosted by Homeboy Industries, the largest gang rehabilitation organization in the world. The group won the Hilton Humanitarian Prize in 2020 (the largest global award given to a non-profit).
Students say the summit was a valuable learning experience.
“In that space, my voice mattered in a way that I wish to continue to allow it to,” Casto said. “Through the summit I got offered not only an internship but I have also been gifted with confidence in my ability to make a difference.”
