Hosted by RVIS students and faculty sponsors, Tara Waudby and Samantha Cortes, this year's Virtual Compassion Summit involved X number of schools with over 50 students from around the world with the ultimate goal of increasing compassion in schools through planned action.

The summit is divided into three sections including Keynote, Connections Groups and Workshops that offer students a wide variety of experiences and establish the foundation for the final group project. Keynote topics include “Service over Charity, Going Outside Comfort Zones and Design Thinking' and are designed to encourage students to challenge their thinking while forming new ideas and concepts. These ideas are then expanded on through peer connection groups, where students share experiences and explore topics such as friendship, loyalty, kindness and respect. Students also enroll in workshops and institutes where they take a deep dive into topics on social justice, emotional intelligence, and life skills.

Towards the end of the summit, each school group identifies an issue within their school and dedicates eight weeks to designing and implementing a Compassionate Action Plan that addresses the identified issues. Ms. Cortes believes that, “effective change occurs when youth develop and demonstrate compassion, are involved in the decision-making process, and understand their role in the bigger picture”.

As the event wraps up at the end of March, it will be great to see the impact these young leaders will have on their school and community.