Month: September 2025

Written by Anne Soto

What is school really for?

I grew up a farm kid in a community of 500, where the school wasn’t just a building– it was the heartbeat of the town. Friday night lights, FFA competitions, school musicals, the science fair weren’t “extracurriculars,” they were community life. Everyone showed up, and in turn, community shaped my future.

That’s the unique gift of rural education: the porousness between K–12 education, community assets, and local leaders. Students don’t just learn in classrooms; they’re shaped by business owners, coaches, elders, and neighbors. When schools lean into this porousness, they create the conditions for young people to stay, lead, and reimagine the future of their hometowns.

Yet too often, learning stops at the textbook or the worksheet and the connection to the community ends there. But what happens when knowledge leads to action in the community? Imagine moving beyond an occasional farm field trip or Indigenous history guest speaker to units designed with local leaders. What if students worked with an ag-business to solve a real-world challenge applying math to farm yield data or partnered with the local conservation board to improve water quality in nearby lakes? That kind of learning not only prepares students for meaningful careers, it strengthens the region itself.

Why Rural Matters
Greater Minnesota reflects the dynamics of rural America rooted in agriculture, manufacturing, and natural resources, while navigating shifts in workforce, demographics, and technology. Schools are at the center of this transition: when they thrive, the region thrives.

Educators here carry immense responsibility not just to prepare young people academically, but to equip them with the skills and mindsets needed to sustain local industries, lead civically, and imagine new opportunities that will keep these communities vibrant for generations. And when students present solutions to local employers, town councils, or community organizations, they gain the confidence and sense of purpose to lead right where they are.

What We’re Building Together
Through partnership with Lakes Country Service Cooperative, and with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, World Savvy is launching the Future Ready Rural Schools Learning Lab starting with two West Central Minnesota schools. Together we will:

• Elevate student voice so young people are co-creators of solutions for their schools and towns.

• Equip educators with tools and networks to connect learning with real-world impact.

• Keep schools at the center of civic, cultural, and economic life.

In doing so, we’re not only preparing students for the future — we’re strengthening the fabric of rural communities themselves.

Looking Ahead
In the months ahead, we’ll continue learning alongside educators, students, and community leaders, co-creating models of readiness rooted in the strengths and aspirations of rural Minnesota.

We are grateful to walk this path with Lakes Country Service Cooperative and Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies and most of all, with the students who remind us daily that the future of our communities begins in our schools. We invite you to follow this journey as we share stories of young people shaping what’s next for Greater Minnesota.

What began as a quiet shift is now undeniable: change is unfolding all around us, reshaping how we think about preparing young people for the future. The spark has caught.

Students today are telling us, through their questions, their organizing, their leadership, that the systems meant to prepare them for life, work, and democracy are falling short. Employers echo this truth: durable skills like problem-solving, collaboration, and adaptability are the most critical skills for success, yet they remain underdeveloped in schools. Communities feel it too, as civic participation wanes and trust in institutions falters. The problem isn’t new, but the urgency is sharper than ever.

Communities need to reimagine the role of education not as a pipeline to content knowledge alone, but as a living system where young people practice applying their learning to real-world challenges. Where students connect with community partners, local businesses, and colleges to build the skills they’ll need to thrive. Where education becomes a bridge to purpose.

Look at New York’s P-TECH schools, where partnerships between high schools, community colleges, and local industries open doors for students to step directly into meaningful careers. Or schools that begin with a simple but profound shift: seeing and understanding their students first, and then reshaping learning conditions around them. This isn’t theory—it’s practice, and it’s working. Because when students have both inner awareness and external platforms, support, and tools, the results are unstoppable.

This isn’t isolated. It’s a groundswell.

There are many organizations out there who see the importance and relevance of pulling communities together. World Savvy has partnered with more than 922,000 students and 7,400 educators in 45 states and 32 countries, working with district and community at the center. And we are not alone in this movement. Thousands of other organizations are all part of this rhythm, a powerful wave of local change building into national transformation.

The question now isn’t if the change will happen, but: What conditions in communities spark school systems to adopt and sustain durable skills at scale?

We believe the answer lies in bringing community into schools and schools into community life. What we’ve learned from decades of education initiatives is that there is no one-size-fits-all model that can simply be plunked into any community and succeed. Communities are different, with distinct needs, strengths, and ways of being. For educational change to take root and last, it must be responsive to that unique ecosystem.

It’s like thinking of a community as the air in the environment: if you want to shift the system, you have to shift the air itself. Change is reciprocal, like a food web, where any movement in one part of the system reverberates across the whole. This means that durable skills such as adaptability, empathy, collaboration, and problem-solving cannot just be “taught” in isolation; they must be cultivated in connection with the life of the community.

When schools build authentic partnerships with local organizations, businesses, colleges, and civic leaders, students gain real-world platforms to practice these skills. And when communities see schools as vital partners in their own thriving, the conditions are set for transformation that lasts.

Because the challenges ahead, whether in our economy, our democracy, or our neighborhoods, require young people who are not just knowledgeable, but deeply connected, adaptable, and prepared for real life.

A wave of change is not chaos. It is rhythm and momentum. Youth, education, and community movements have that rhythm. Our role is to help them scale.

The nonprofit sector faces headwinds such as funding pressures, political polarization, and narratives that undervalue this essential work. And yet, against those odds, the movement grows. That paradox, pressure alongside unstoppable progress, is proof of its strength.

So whatever role you play, educator, funder, nonprofit partner, parent, or friend, you are part of this ecosystem of change. Like any living system, when one element shifts, the whole adapts. Each action, each investment, each voice strengthens the web of relationships that makes transformation possible. Together, we are not just imagining a different future, we’re co-creating it with our communities.

The groundswell is here. It’s urgent. It’s growing. Let’s keep moving together.