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Virginia School Consortium for Learning

Virginia Consortium for Learning
2025-26 STUDENT LEADERSHIP Design Institute

General Information

The annual VaSCL Student Leadership Design Institute is a benefit of membership in The Virginia School Consortium for Learning.
The conference is FREE for participants from VaSCL member high schools.
Click Here for Membership Directory
The VaSCL Student Leadership Design Institute Showcase is held annually onsite in March- final dates, times, and location TBA.

The 2024 Student Leadership Design Institute Video

Teen Design Teams

Each high school may register one or two teams of diverse student leaders, grades 9 –12. We encourage faculty advisors to include students who lead peers from a variety of leadership roles, both formal and informal in the school.

A Faculty Advisor will need to complete an intent to register one or more teams will attend and be present to support registered teams at the March showcase event. Student team leaders should be identified on the initial registration form which will be provided to faculty advisors and steering committee members via link in January 2025. All team members can be added at a later date prior to March 1.

Design Institute Focus

Real Challenges. Bold Ideas. Youth-Led Solutions

Student teams take on a real-world design challenge—drawing from their own experiences to develop solutions that impact high school students, families, and communities.

Each year’s challenge is co-developed with student leaders and centers on issues identified by teens as critical in their schools and communities. Some past examples include:

  • Community Homelessness
  • Affordable Housing
  • Criminal Justice
  • Environmental Challenges
  • Student Voice
  • Health
  • High School Redesign
  • Economic Opportunity
Students bring powerful insights and fresh perspectives to problems they or their communities face every day. Their voices matter—and their ideas can shape the future.

Student Design Institute Focus

Design for Local Impact
Student leadership design teams will explore bold, creative solutions to real challenges facing their schools and communities. Through virtual and on-site Design Institute sessions, they’ll lead with empathy, design with purpose, and take action—becoming imaginative changemakers ready to make a local difference.

Institute Lesson Design Overview

Student-Driven, Community-Focused

High school teams will tackle a local design challenge, guided by trained student leaders and supported by faculty advisors. Working both on-site and virtually, students will lead the process—investigating real issues, generating creative solutions, and sharing ideas with peers from other schools.

Design time is fully student-driven, fostering collaboration, empathy, and innovation. Teams will identify local challenges, develop actionable solutions, and craft ways to communicate their ideas to community decision-makers.

Important Information for Faculty Advisors

Each team must have at least one faculty advisor who can attend virtual sessions and support teams. Information will be forthcoming here in the fall for Faculty Advisors.

Registration Information Coming This Fall

As a benefit of membership in VaSCL, there is NO CHARGE for participation in the Student Leadership Conference.

Up to two teams of Three to Five students (grades 9-12) and one or two Faculty Advisors from each VaSCL member high school can be registered using the online registration form.

Team Leader Training

All team leaders will need to participate in synchronous or asynchronous Facilitator Training Sessions, held virtually, via Zoom. Student team leaders can choose to attend zoom sessions or watch zoom recordings of those training sessions. Faculty advisors also should attend the session with their team leader.

Questions? Conference Institute Coordinator

If you have questions or concerns, or would like more information about this year’s VaSCL Student Leadership Design Institute, please contact Alison Dwier-Selden, VaSCL Coordinator at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.