20-04-2025
‘There's a student well-being crisis': Students, leaders gather for education summit
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — In the wake of sweeping federal budget cuts, more than 100 people gathered in Grand Rapids Saturday to sound the alarm on what many call a growing crisis: student well-being.
Students, parents, educators, nonprofit leaders and policymakers put their heads together at the 2025 Education Summit, hosted by KConnect. The event focused on identifying the threats that students in school face and developing strategies to push for policy change.
'There's a student well-being crisis,' said Shayla Young, vice president at KConnect. 'There are many threats that are impacting or have the potential to impact the well-being of our young people.'
Young said that through community interviews and focus groups, students helped build a list of top concerns. Some of those concerns include unmet basic needs, school violence, the role of family, substance abuse and social media.
'We shouldn't be saying that our young people have to be resilient. We should be saying that our system needs to be designed so our students can be well, all of them,' said Young. 'Ensuring that we have space to talk to young people matters.'
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Her daughter, 12-year-old Kennedi Young, sees these issues firsthand.
'I feel like it affects everybody,' Kennedi said. 'Even the laws, like what we can talk about and can't talk about in school.'
She said Saturday's turnout made her feel heard.
'It means a lot, because it means that there's a group of people who are willing to do something and make a change for everything that's happening,' she said.
The event featured a gallery walk with community partners, hands-on data exploration and open discussions that encouraged real policy advocacy.
Salvador Lopez, the president of KConnect, emphasized the importance of including the voices of those most affected in finding solutions.
'I'm a first-generation college graduate. … That doesn't happen without community,' he said. 'So for me, it's about including people with lived experience that have been in and out of some of these issues. And we have students and parents and caregivers here today, and to me, that's where the solutions are.'
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Lopez said he hopes people understand that you don't have to be a politician to be involved in policy work.
'We have the ability through convenings like today to get in front of the policymakers and say, 'Our voices matter, our stories matter,'' said Lopez.
Grand Rapids City Commissioner Lisa Knight spoke in front of the crowd, saying adults need to do more than listen.
'If we don't help them understand how powerful their voices are, then they have nothing to say,' she said. 'We need them to think. We need them to dream. We need them to have help. Without that hope, we don't have a future.'
KConnect and its partners say this is just the beginning. They plan to continue facilitating conversations and turning them into action, helping the future of education thrive.
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