Student Voice and Choice: From Ideas to Impact
November 2025
Centering student voice is foundational to the STEMbyTAF model. As studies have shown, elevating student voice is key to building equity in the classroom. By giving students opportunities to critique the systems, policies, and practices that disadvantage them, they can advocate for and enact change.
At TransformED partner school Olympic View, Ms. Lizzy’s 6th and 7th grade students learned about the power of voice and choice. In partnership with STEMbyTAF Transformation Coach Dr. Arleatha Bryant, Ms. Lizzy created a project for students to advocate for themselves: pitch a new extracurricular activity of their choice to school leadership.
Up until recently, Olympic View had no extracurricular activities. That’s when students stepped in. They approached the issue in groups, drafting business plans, thinking strategically about who they wanted to serve, their budget, and how to execute their project if their proposal was approved.
Students practiced their pitches in front of the community during presentations of learning with a variety of poster boards, prototypes, and interactive designs. These community-facing presentations are a core part of the STEMbyTAF process, giving students authentic feedback to refine their projects and communication strategy.
With guidance from Ms. Lizzy and Dr. Bryant, students completed the project cycle by pitching their club proposals to their principal. Thanks to their own voice and self-advocacy, students at Olympic View now have a cooking club, an art club, and a Pacific Islander club, which all meet weekly.
This experience showed our students the value of their voices. A lesson that, over time, ensures we are sending capable communicators and empathetic leaders into the world who act.
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