“It’s important to have leaders care about what students are saying.”
“We’re opening doors for students so they can see the possibilities."
“We’re creating opportunities for other City School students."
So says Shaelyn Cason-Madden, a junior at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, and Zayra Chicas-Guzman, a junior at P-TECH at Digital Harbor High School. Along with eight of their peers, they're impacting City Schools—because they regularly meet directly with City Schools CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises. 
Shaelyn and Zayra are members of the CEO Student Cabinet, which is now in its second year of using extensive research, thoughtful data analysis, careful planning, and compelling presentations to elevate student voices and provide valuable insight to Dr. Santelises.
The 10 members of the Student Cabinet come from middle and high schools around the city. They were nominated by school staff and youth-oriented community organizations, and were selected based on an application and interview. The Cabinet meets at least 12 times yearly and quarterly with Dr. Santelises. Their charge: provide a student perspective on important issues to support district leadership's policy, planning, and decision-making. And in the process, the Council members are learning, growing, making friends, and developing lifelong skills.
“Dr. Santelises brings four issues to the Council each year,” says City Schools’ Youth Engagement Specialist, Haley Tilt, who co-facilitates the Council with Kwane Wyatt, Director of Analysis & Engagement at the Fund for Educational Excellence. “Last year, the students recognized clear gaps in extracurricular activities. Dr. Santelises then charged them with developing an intervention to address this need.”
In regular meetings, Tilt and Wyatt guided Council members as they considered multiple factors and explored the project. The students learned about various research methods and the skills they could apply in gathering information. They then designed interview questions and gathered input from their fellow students through questionnaires and focus groups. Once they collected feedback, they analyzed the data, identified the themes they heard, and developed practical and actionable recommendations, including budgets.
Tilt and Wyatt also explained different types of organizational structures and brought in colleagues to discuss policy and organizational management. In preparation for their recommendations to Dr. Santelises, Tilt and Wyatt coached the students in critical thinking and how to make a compelling presentation to answer the ultimate question: What can we do about it?
And it was a compelling presentation—or, more accurately, presentations.
Throughout 2024, the Student Cabinet shared with Dr. Santelises "Catalyzing Student Leaders: A Proposal for an Initiative to Inform and Equip Students to Form Their Own Organization." Using bar charts, graphs, student quotes, and data, the Cabinet stated the problem (students want more extracurricular activities but don't know how to create them), framed the challenge (giving students the awareness, knowledge, and tools they would need to start a club), and offered a series of recommendations. Central to their suggestions was developing an interactive, multimedia toolkit of resources, themed like a gameboard, to clearly provide step-by-step guidance for setting up a new club, including hosting a Club Fair for students.
With Dr. Santelises' go-ahead, the Council developed criteria to award an $800 grant to Cabinet members' schools to host a Club Fair. To date, students from seven schools have been awarded grants and hosted club fairs at their schools. At their biweekly meeting in February, the students explained their project to the Board of School Commissioners.
“The Club Fairs were awesome,” reports Zayra. “Students were dancing, showing off robotics, trying new things. It was amazing.”
The CEO Student Cabinet's passion and recommendations for extracurricular activities are just one of many examples of how the entire community is championing Portrait of a Graduate, City School's articulation of aspirations for all students. The Student Cabinet's project aligns with Portrait goals for growth and enrichment—providing experiences for all students outside of the traditional classroom where they can participate in various programs to expand their minds, change their perspectives, and enhance their overall school experience. Cabinet members undoubtedly exemplify the competencies of creative and innovative thinkers defined in the Portrait, as they "apply critical and open-minded thinking, informed by evidence, to create new or meaningful ideas to solve complex problems."
“Including student voices and getting direct feedback gives us a deeper understanding of what’s important,” affirmed Dr. Santelises. “We want to know what matters to them and what solutions will work best for them.”
Shaelyn agrees. "In the Council, I have a voice. Someone cares about what I have to say. Being in the room with Dr. S. is important—I'm giving ideas so she can make decisions for all schools, not just my own. The district is always supportive of our ideas."
“I always try to speak up for people at my school but it felt like it wasn't enough,” says Zayra. “Now I feel I’m able to contribute and see how much of a change you can make if you put yourself out there - stepping out of your box.”
Zayra and Shaelyn both love working with students from other schools. "Other Cabinet members are very welcoming," says Zayra. "You get to be your true, authentic self, and people will support you. Everyone's opinion matters. A leader needs to listen and share power. Everyone has a voice."
Echoes Shaelyn, "When we speak up for ourselves and for others, we're taking their ideas into consideration. It's not just about what I think; it's about what we all think."