Lakrisha Chookán Brady, Youth & Cultural Education Coordinator
AASB’s Annual Conference and Youth Leadership Institute (YLI) were held on November 13th – 16th in Anchorage, Alaska. Historically, this conference has been an opportunity for school board members and youth leaders from across the state to gather and work together on issues affecting Alaska’s schools.
This year we had representatives from 31 different school districts, and a total of 77 students and 31 chaperones. Each student had opportunities to attend breakout sessions tailored to Alaskan youth who want to grow their leadership and communication skills. These included Finding Your Future, Self Care for Leaders, The AI Shift: Your Role as a Student Leader, Choose Connection: Building Resilient Leaders Through Community and Civic Engagement and many more. Students even had opportunities to share songs and dances from their home communities and cultures.
Additionally, students worked together on project planning, thinking about what is going well in their districts, and what challenges they see. Within this work, they were asked, what would you like the adults in your communities to know? Take a look at the student statements here for more information!
We also had the opportunity to tour the University of Alaska Anchorage Campus. Students and chaperones who participated were able to see some very helpful spaces on campus, as well as have a fun evening with pizza, NYO Games, and access to the basketball court and volleyball nets.
This year, students, chaperones and AASB staff used an app called PhotoCircle to capture many meaningful moments. We used those photos and videos to create this slide show of YLI 2025, take a look!
It takes a great deal of work and commitment to attend YLI and get the most out of it, and we at AASB would like to thank each and every student, chaperone, parent, and board member who made it possible for this year’s group of attendees to be present and engaged.
If you’re interested in learning more about developing youth leadership skills for the students in your district, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Youth Leadership team. Find out more by emailing Chookán, Lakrisha Brady.
