High School Students Make an Impact! 2025 International Education Summit was the Best One Yet
On December 9th, the World Affairs Council had our 19th annual International Education Summit (IES) which welcomed over 200 participants from local schools within the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region. We are excited to share that the summit had the largest attendance in our history!
Thanks to the amazing work of the workshop facilitators, the endless dedication from our volunteers, as well as our high school student ambassadors. It was also one of our most impactful summits yet.
From left to right: Dr. François Le Roy, Stephanie, Cassidy, and Dr. Brandon Thompson
The day began with a craft in which students created cards and heart puzzles to either give to someone they care about or donate to a home for people with disabilities. Dr. Brandon Thompson, Vice President of NKU’s Student Affairs opened up the day, followed by our student ambassadors and IES planners, Stephanie and Cassidy of Winton Woods. Then, our Keynote Speaker, Elliot Clarkson gave an inspiring talk on how to make a global impact as a high school student. Elliot is a sophomore at Miami University majoring in International Studies, Spanish, and Linguistics. In high school, she dedicated over 450 volunteer hours to the Akron Zoo and served as Lieutenant Governor of Ohio Division 16 East & West for Key Club International, where she raised $13,000 to fund a freshwater well in Eswatini with the Thirst Project.
Our community partners, Art Equals, Artworks, Groundwork ORV, 1N5, and The Well hosted some of our interactive, hands-on workshops focused on global service skills.
Winton Woods student leading AI workshop
What made this an especially powerful experience was having student peers leading the efforts of a few workshops. Elliot hosted her own on empowering students to make a change. A couple of Winton Woods students inspired their peers through an AI workshop, discussing how to collaborate with AI to generate creative and realistic solutions to global issues. Groundwork ORV also invited a couple of their student ambassadors to co-lead their workshop.
This approach provided students an opportunity to understand how global issues can impact our local community and how young people can make a difference, seeing it firsthand through some of their workshop leaders.
“If I’m passionate about helping my community, I should go for it and do my best to make the change I want to see happen. Even though sometimes we get overlooked as high schoolers, we truly can make an impact if we choose to.”
Heather Low of Talbert House talking to two IES attendees
Most of our workshop leaders also participated in our Community Fair. The fair gave students the opportunity to seek out different possibilities to shape their near future. From careers, leadership development, and how to customize their future education. Other booths included: Talbert House, NKADD’s Youth First program, Cincinnati Recreation Center, Findlay Market, and Northern Kentucky’s Community Action Commission. On top of NKU Admissions and Center for Global Engagement being present at the Community Fair, students were also given the opportunity to tour NKU’s campus.
To further broaden the students’ career prospects 20 local professionals donated their time as speed networkers, discussing their career paths and providing insight. Students found the most fulfillment in listening to the stories our volunteers shared. With the post-secondary transition being a point of stress for most young people, hearing about (the often non-linear) paths people have taken in life reassures students that the path to making a difference can be versatile and explorative.
“No one person’s path is decided. We have plenty of time and recovery to figure out who we are and what we want to do.”
IES attendee participating in the speednetworking event.
Ending out the day, we announced the Youth Leaders for Glocal Impact grant. This year, we are launching a website to help students identify a problem of their choice and develop solutions.
Students have until January 9th apply to the grant, which includes watching the first module.
We would like to thank Holmes High School, Ursuline Academy, Princeton High School, and Winton Woods High School for attending.
Once again, thank you to all of our volunteers and community partners for creating such an impactful day.
And a very special thank you to Northern Kentucky University for hosting our International Education Summit.
