Facilitator Trent Day Hall approached his computer in the library, anxious in front of the crowd. Despite his worries, he’s ready to teach a room full of freshmen the valuable lesson of dignity through slideshows, statistics, and group activities.

On Monday, Oct. 21, 50 freshmen were invited to attend a Student Voice Workshop to discuss dignity and belonging in the SC library during periods two through seven. Students were chosen through teacher recommendations and about 60% of the chosen students showed up. Hall presented the students with a slideshow and various activities centered around equity and human dignity to create a sense of belonging among a school community.

“We need to create a more inclusive and accepting school community of all ideologies, through processes, and lived experiences,” Hall said.

The meeting started off tackling colloquial responses to everyday questions and being honest when someone asks, “how are you?” As it continued, Hall shared the importance of proper listening and how it connects to respecting someone’s dignity. Students were encouraged to share stories of when they recognized they’ve disrespected someone’s dignity, and a peer listening to them would engage in a reflective conversation. Additionally, Hall revealed in his presentation, 2% of adults have professional training in listening, and to untrained ears, 20-25% of conversations are forgotten. Hall believes there is importance in listening to and understanding someone’s story, which he explained to students throughout the workshop.

“I need to understand what you’re saying,” Hall said.

Hall has had a background with communal dignity since college, where he began to speak on topics like race, gender, and sexuality. After college, he was able to become a professor in facilitation, where he then decided to work in human rights and equity for seven years. Now, he has been working with LT, among other schools, for six years, which started after he met Principal Jennifer Tyrrell at a mindfulED conference he was presenting for. During her time as the principal of Carl Sandburg High School, she invited Hall to share his lessons. It was such a positive experience, she ended up bringing him to LT. 

“I feel so grateful that I can bring someone in that [students] love to be around and learn from,” Tyrrell said. 

Hall’s presentations have encouraged students to approach him with questions and their own stories. Tyrrell works with Hall to organize the workshops and discuss demographics, ensuring students’ potential and opinions can be shared. Part of what Hall endorses is taking the harder-to-understand academic language and simplifying it enough to communicate the topics to everyone, opening the possibilities of understanding more complex subjects within.

“The more voice we can give to our students the more they believe the school is theirs, which it is,” Tyrrell said. 

After the initial meeting, some students are asked to continue pursuing their leadership qualities and participate in further events. Facilitator in training, Katherine Seiple ‘26, is one of the students interested to resume after her first Student Voice Workshop.

“The idea of sharing how to properly respect each other, really, that really pulled me into it,” Seiple said. “The dignity part of it stood out to me because it’s something everybody should have.”

Students like Seiple will watch trained facilitators help Hall organize events and follow in their footsteps later on. The trained facilitators will share their stories, ensure their groups of students are participating, and support Hall in his presentations. Facilitators and those in training attend roughly one meeting per month. These meetings will either focus on one big topic or ask a variety of questions in hopes to get student feedback.