The students who participate in the annual Woodland Hills Student Summit do it for different reasons. Some are passionate advocates for mental health. Others are tuned in to the latest advancements in artificial intelligence or social media. More have been impacted by gun violence or suffered through painful losses of family members and friends.
No matter what drives them to decide to participate, they all have something in common: They want to speak up. They want to help someone who might be in a similar situation, or raise awareness of an important issue, or just offer reassurance that no one is truly alone.
On Friday, March 13, over 350 high school students from two dozen high schools gathered for a series of conversations at the seventh annual Woodland Hills Student Summit at Penn State Greater Allegheny. Each discussion was led by a team of student leaders who worked over the last few months to develop their topics, research resources, and plan activities to help the students forge a connection.
Woodland Hills senior Alexia Abernathy was one of the student leaders in the Grief and Loss discussion group. She said the discussions were emotional as the leaders and participants alike shared the ways that they’ve struggled with the loss of friends and family members. But Abernathy wanted them to leave the discussion uplifted.
“I have dealt with a lot of grief and loss in my life, and I wanted to shed some light on it,” she said, “because grief and loss – it’s not the end of something. It’s the start of a new chapter.”
Woodland Hills junior D.J. Dutrieuille said he chose to become a leader this year because he understands firsthand the challenge of juggling academics, athletics, and his own mental health. As one of the members of the Athletes’ Commitments and Responsibilities group, he and his peers led a discussion on how to balance that workload.
“You can be as good as you want, but if the grades don’t match your athletic performance, then none of that matters, right?,” Dutrieuille said.
Other topics this year included Gun Violence Prevention, Fostering Healthy Relationships, Animal and Environmental Considerations, Social Media Influence, Criminal Justice Exploration, Artificial Intelligence, and more. Each group also featured an activity to go along with the discussion, from games designed to prompt debate to crafts that enabled students to express their thoughts in a different way.
Woodland Hills senior Aubrie Moon has been a leader in the Mental Health group for all four of her years in high school.
“I just feel like there's such a certain stigma around mental health and that teenagers don't really have the opportunity to speak out about it as much, and if they do have the opportunity, they often feel like pressured or scared to speak about it,” she explained.
Moon said the mental health group focused on how people can be impacted by their mental health in different ways. Whether it’s particular triggers like politics or family relationships, uncontrollable factors like genetics, or underdiscussed issues specifically impacting men or women, Moon said the goal was to educate their peers on the different forms of mental health
“It’s not black and white,” she said. “It doesn’t look one way or another. Everyone’s mental health looks different.”
Founded by Woodland Hills High School English teacher Erin Wall, the Woodland Hills Student Summit started as a platform for Woodland Hills students to discuss a series of community incidents that left the district devastated. It soon expanded to include multiple other districts, and now features schools from around the region. It is student-led and student-driven, as each topic is hand-picked by students and each discussion is developed by the students throughout the school year.
“Whatever your group is, you’re going to find more people like you,” Dutrieuille said. “You’re going to find more situations like you and you’re going to find a connection to a person.”
This year’s Student Summit featured a resource fair that included organizations with connections and additional resources to the topics that were discussed by the students, a visit by therapy dogs, and a mural crafted by Woodland Hills High School teacher Paul Beard and senior Keny’ce Lawson. Mr. Beard constructed the frame and did the woodworking, while Lawson drew a series of images reflecting each topic.
Along with host Woodland Hills, participating schools for this year include Aliquippa, Avonworth, Belle Vernon, Carlynton, City of Bridges, City High, Chartiers Valley, Greater Johnstown, Mt. Lebanon, North Allegheny, North Hills, Obama Academy, Penn Hills, Pittsburgh Public Science & Technology Academy, Seneca Valley, South Fayette, Upper St. Clair, West Mifflin, Westinghouse, and additional students from various Pittsburgh Public Schools.
The Student Summit is supported by The HEAR Foundation, Penn State 4-H Extension, the L.I.G.H.T. Education Initiative, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Heinz History Center, and Penn State Greater Allegheny, as well as a host of volunteers from multiple districts, including Mr. Beard, Kellie Irwin, and Aaron Minor from Woodland Hills.
For students like Aubrie Moon, the Woodland Hills Student Summit has become a transformational experience that’s empowered their voices and opened their worlds.
“I’ve made so many friends from so many different districts with so many different backgrounds,” Moon said. “It’s really just a good experience to learn more about your community and people you never would have met before.”