BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — In an effort to give hundreds of young people a platform to share their opinions on issues that matter to them, Buffalo State University held a special conference highlighting voices of youth in our community.
The 7th annual Youth Voices Conference brought hundreds of students, teachers and parents to Buffalo State University's campus. Whether it was media production, poetry or different works of art, student creativity was on display.
"A lot of times we think of classrooms as these spaces of drudgery where you stare at the board and wait for summer break," English Teacher at Alden High School, Colin Dabkowski said. "But in a lot of classroom in Western New York students are doing incredible, creative projects and we want to celebrate them and show them off."
More than 500 young minds, grades K through 12, were highlighted and they said they're capable of way more than you might think.
7 News reporter, Sydni Eure asked Alden High School Senior Allie Mcauley what she thought the biggest misconception about people her age was.
"That we don't know anything and that's just absolutely not true," Mcauley said.
With support from the English teachers working to change the world, students from more than 11 schools across Western New York were ready to prove it.
"I'm here to perform my speech I made specifically on the Tops Massacre," 7th-grade presenter, Raven Burkardt said. "I want to share exactly how it happened and I want to talk about segregation in Buffalo."
"So we're getting into the presentation part of the Youth Voices Conference," English Education Professor, Dr. Kristen Pastore-Capuana said. "We have three different presentation sessions. So we have students presenting their spoken word poetry, Ted Talks, research projects, there are some literary elements that are going to be shared."
After hearing from the Keynote speaker, Buffalo Laureate Jillian Hanesworth, the crowd broke off into sections in buildings all across campus to give their peers some undivided attention. Many educators say this is something that doesn't quite happen enough.
"I feel like kids don't get a chance enough to voice their opinion and who they are and this is a stage that they get to be on and present what they believe in, in really healthy and mature ways," 7th grade ELA Teacher at Elmwood Village Charter School, Rachel Robinson said.
Mcauley said no matter how scary finding your voice may be, with a little courage, anything and any change is possible.
"I think just being able to take that risk just shows an incredible amount of courage as a person," Mcauley said.
