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HISD said we’re influenced by the “outside.” It's true! Here’s a thread about the work we’ve done 2014 to 2021 and the outside forces (i.e. non-profits, fmr HISD employees, state lawmakers, alumni, etc.) that helped us. Y’all R the best
. RT to thank those who've helped!!! (1/x)
. RT to thank those who've helped!!! (1/x)
We started in 2014. Some high schools students met at the @BakerInstitute which gave us a room. Our first meeting was with @SteveKlineberg who taught us a little bit about Houston's history.
These students - who eventually became StuCon's founders - then with @AdrianGarciaHTX. He inspired us to think about education and to take agency over decisions that impact us. 
Shout out to @amyfanamy, who calculated that students spend 16,000 hours in education before graduating. Isn't that crazy? We thought we should have a voice. So we pitched our ideas to @julietstipeche - then an HISD board member - and she agreed to work with us. So we did
StuCon was born. We started sending out emails, spread the word with our friends, and came to an HISD board meeting with a whooole lot of students. That's where were first recognized.
One of our first big projects was going to Austin to lobby for more education funding for HISD. We got help from @tgrierhisd @JSpencer_HCSO @HoustonISDGov and many others. Here's a pic of us meeting with @SylvesterTurner when he was still in the legislature
Another project was food waste. We worked with @second_servings, @thelunchtray, @s_costello, and @HISDNutri to reduce food waste in HISD.
We provided input to the Code of Conduct. @HFT2415 recommended that idea to us. We made substantive changes, such as reducing penalties for pepper spray (it's important for some students to walk to school safe!). We also made symbolic changes like rewriting the preamble.
Last project in 2014-15 was the amicus brief. This was a doozy. Ten students at the time collaborated to submit the first student-written amicus brief in TX history. The court ruled against us - but they called our brief excellent!
We did the brief ourselves, but we definitely got some help. We primarily got advice from Billy Reagan - a former HISD superintendent from the 70's and 80's. Billy Reagan is the namesake of @ReaganK8_HISD and one of our heroes.
Okay, that's 2014-15! We'll take a break and then get back on this thread for 2015-16.
This is a long night friends, as we'll discuss every initiative that received outside help for the past seven years. As much as we collectively remembered! Our gratitude to everyone.
This is a long night friends, as we'll discuss every initiative that received outside help for the past seven years. As much as we collectively remembered! Our gratitude to everyone.
In fall 2015, @amyfanamy was speaker as @ztameez went to college. You'll see later on in this thread that transitions were really hard from year-to-year b/c institutional knowledge was lost. It was hard without consistent advisors from HISD 
But still - we did our best.
But still - we did our best.
We organized a TEDxHISD event. We got help from @daveeinsel who was super useful. You can watch one of our TEDx videos here... this student went viral. Her TED talk got 27K views! 
We also did A LOT of regular feedback sessions on school lunch food. HISD would bring trucks with sample food for students to taste-test at various schools. Former board member @lunceford1956 helped us out with this.
We learned from @ONEHouAction how to do house meetings. It's an organizing strategy from Cesar Chavez. We use the methodology to bring students together to talk about issues that are important to them.
We're doing them weekly, btw! Students join here: http://bit.ly/joinstucon
We're doing them weekly, btw! Students join here: http://bit.ly/joinstucon
We also launched http://DearHISD.org . Students submitted blog posts about issues in their schools, and we'd edit & publish them. Sadly, 2 years later the domain expired. HISD didn't give us $$ in time to renew it. As you can guess, schools didn't like getting called out 
But it was pretty great while it lasted! You can still see the archives here. Real change happened from posts: Improvements to school lunches at Furr HS, for example. http://web.archive.org/web/20170614025243/http://dearhisd.org/
Lastly, we organized a student voice summit! @ztameez helped over the summer. We invited dozens of community leaders to listen to students speak. There were A LOT of people involved - can't fit into a tweet. 
Here's a story from @lauraisensee about it. https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2016/08/02/162769/houstons-student-congress-tells-lawmakers-how-to-fix-school-finance-improve-education/
Here's a story from @lauraisensee about it. https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2016/08/02/162769/houstons-student-congress-tells-lawmakers-how-to-fix-school-finance-improve-education/
That's a wrap for 2015-16. Next up, 2016-17!
In fall 2016 to spring 2017, we expanded a partnership with @iEducateUSA to send high school students to elementary schools to tutor kids in reading. It was really successful- and our members had fun!
We also continued advising on school lunch food. We launched the Student Nutrition Advisory Council with HISD!
At some point around this time we also did a meme campaign on FB. We didn't need any outside help on this - but we thought we'd share, since it was a pretty good idea. Honestly we might start that up again on IG some time.
Here's another one. This one would be funny... if it weren't true. School inequity is something we've experienced everyday. It's something we live(d) through.
Another challenge students face is mental health. In 2017, we organized several mental health workshops for students with @MHAHouston. They were a great partner for us.
We also introduced a bill in the @TXlege. It wasn't our idea - the bill was conceived by another outsider, @CatZhang1, a student from Dallas. She had introduced the bill two years earlier with @leachfortexas. We tried again to get it passed. The bill was two words- a GREAT idea!
Getting a bill through #txlege is not easy. So we got some advice. We asked @MustafaTameez and other local people who knew a lot about politics to help us out.
Then, we proposed the bill HB1585 and SB508! We're grateful that @JimMurphy133 and @SenLarryTaylor introduced it for us. It passed House Ed Committee -- thank to @uyive_ 's testimony. But it didn't make it out of the House in time. 
https://www.valleycentral.com/news/local-news/texas-students-want-a-say-in-school-curriculum/
https://www.valleycentral.com/news/local-news/texas-students-want-a-say-in-school-curriculum/
The last thing we did in 2017 was speak to school board at @tasbnews. We're so grateful they invited us! This was also a cool transition moment from Jessica DeBoe (PVA '17) to Martha Aguirre (Westbury '18). Martha and Jessica are on the left-hand side of this photo at TASB!
Also, it took a LONG time for HISD to process our stipends from TASB.
Many StuCon members declined part-time jobs to volunteer for StuCon. Some members had trouble with their parents bc of that. $$ has been a serious issue for many of us, and a source of tension with HISD.
Many StuCon members declined part-time jobs to volunteer for StuCon. Some members had trouble with their parents bc of that. $$ has been a serious issue for many of us, and a source of tension with HISD.
Okay, that covers 2016-17. We'll head to 2017-18 soon!
