Kentucky Student Voice Team

Beginning with a small group of Kentucky high school students meeting up at a Lexington coffee shop in 2012, we began as a single program at an adult-led organization. As we grew at such a rapid pace, in early 2021, we spun off into our own statewide youth-led independent organization that is sustained by an intergenerational team.

We also evolved our mission and our strategies so that we now describe ourselves as young people co-creating more just, democratic schools and communities as education research, policy, and advocacy partners.

At any given time, our team represents roughly 100 Kentucky middle and high school students—across 25+ cities and towns. And members are not anointed or appointed—but we are self-selected.

Here are are a few things our team accomplished just in the last 2024-25 school year:

• We Led 5 Education Research Studies;


• We Published and Podcasted 47 Articles and Episodes;


• We tracked 25 education-related bills;


• We defeated 1 ballot initiative with a statewide bus tour;


• We filed 1 education adequacy lawsuit;


• We Delivered 43 Local, National, and International Presentations;


• We Traveled to 6 Different States to Present Our Work!

You can see even more photos and statistics from what we accomplished just in the last year here in our 2024-25 Annual Report.

We believe that as young people who spend 35 hours a week in our classrooms, Kentucky students can--and should--contribute to making our schools and communities the best they can possibly be.

Your support is essential to that vision.