On September 29th, a group of diverse leaders from Papio Proud attended the Nebraska School Psychologist Association (NSPA) and had the opportunity to speak in front of psychologists from Nebraska.
The association asked high school students to speak at the conference for the purpose of representation. Representation is important and when it comes to the future, the young generation has the upper hand in representing it. Having a student panel at an event where students are the main focus is not only indicative of receptiveness but also shows a willingness from educators to understand student perceptions.
Junior Agou Degbe was one of the honored students to have spoken at the panel and her view on the importance of representation shows the value in students speaking out towards educators.
¨I think it’s very important to speak at these types of conferences because the best people to help adults understand students are the students themselves,¨ Degbe said. ¨If the student panel didn’t speak at the conference, I think the adults in the room would’ve lost out on valuable insight that would’ve helped students understand why students act the way they do and how they can improve the current system to better help students.¨
The preparation that goes into speaking at a panel in front of highly educated psychologists can be nerve-racking and almost belittling. For Degbe, it was not necessarily the preparation that became nerve-racking, it was mainly the upfront confrontation.
¨Leading up to the conference, I wasn’t very nervous but once we sat down in front of all the school psychologists and I had to introduce myself, the nerves caught up to me. I almost forgot all my speaking points,¨ Degbe said.
The representation the club, Papio Proud, brought to the student panel was not only necessary but also inspiring. The conference attendees were taken aback by the students’ empowering statements as not only were they young but they were representing a minority in their very own school.
¨I actually wish we had more time to speak. The psychologists were very attentive audience members and active participants. They seemed like they were actually very interested in what the student panel had to say and many of them stopped by afterward to thank us for speaking,¨ Degbe said. ¨It was really great to see that our words had made an impact and I hope that they all took our advice to improve their own schools.¨
The student panel not only consisted of students from PLHS but also two different schools. Having different viewpoints on school policies is important when discussing educators’ roles in a school setting. Senior Kidist Negus was a part of the representative group of students that attended the conference and she felt as if the representation from other schools played a big role in the conference.
“It was nice having representation from other student bodies outside of our school because the student body at every school is different. For example, Omaha Burke; most schools in the Omaha area have more diversity as opposed to Papio so it was nice to have schools share their policies,” Negus said. “We got to hear about the different programs at other schools and just how we can bring that to our school and how Psychologists could bring that to their schools as well and implement those policies that are beneficial to students and positive to student behavior.”
Overall, the NSPA conference was a positive experience for not only students but also for the educators present. It allowed students to represent their perceptions and beliefs to a group of educational professionals, and it gave those professionals a chance to understand a student’s viewpoint.
