Author: Kady Cheng

Last week, we convened school leaders, community partners, and neighbors from across Minnesota for a conversation about what’s unfolding in our districts right now. It was not a press event or panel. It was a space to listen, reflect, and learn together.

At World Savvy, this kind of space, where multiple perspectives are elevated, where people can listen deeply, reflect honestly, and learn from one another, is at the core of how we work alongside schools and communities. It is how we make sense of complex moments and move forward with greater clarity and shared purpose.

The Joy After Two Months Inside

Hope Fagerland, Assistant Superintendent of St. Anthony-New Brighton School District, shared a story that quietly carried the weight of this moment.

One family in her district had not left home for two months, continuing learning remotely out of fear. Then they called their principal with a simple request: they wanted to attend the school’s Fun Fest.

The story lingered because it revealed something essential: when fear constricts daily life, schools can gently widen it again. They become bridges back to belonging, and belonging is foundational to learning.

Different Levels of Innocence

Laurie Putnam, Superintendent of St. Cloud Area Schools, described what she called “different levels of innocence.” In a diverse and politically divided community, she has watched people encounter realities that are new to some but long familiar to others.

After a tense local moment, a Somali community member told her husband, a state senator, “This is not my first civil war.” The room fell quiet.

For some residents, recent events felt shocking. For others, they reflected lived experience. Schools, Laurie noted, are often where these realities meet, where communities learn to listen across difference rather than retreat from it.

Nearby districts faced similar moments through different lenses. Leaders chose to center humanity over headlines, telling stories that helped communities see families, not narratives. This is neighboring at the leadership level, and democracy practiced through care.

Neighboring as a civic responsibility

Our guest Thomas Friedman said he recently heard a friend say; “There are hundreds of leaders of this movement, and I don’t know a single one of their names.”

The stories that followed proved this point.

A Minneapolis social worker helped mobilize $300,000 in rent support through grassroots networks. Community members distributed food and resources during Ramadan. School leaders worked quietly to sustain trust with families navigating fear and uncertainty.

None of these efforts centered a single hero. Leadership was shared — across educators, neighbors, faith leaders, and families.

When leadership is distributed across ordinary acts of care, it becomes culture. Neighboring, in this sense, is not sentimental. It is civic responsibility. Democracy thrives when people actively care for one another’s lived realities, and schools remain at the center of that practice.

Schools at the Center of Civic Life

As the conversation unfolded, a pattern became unmistakable. When uncertainty rises, families turn to schools. They call principals. They look to superintendents. They trust teachers to help their children make sense of the world.

Whitney McKinley, Chief Program Officer at World Savvy, named at the outset that this gathering itself reflected how we work alongside schools. We create space for multiple perspectives. We foster inclusive dialogue. We support leaders in navigating complexity together rather than in isolation.

These are not abstract ideals. They are civic competencies. The ability to listen deeply. The willingness to consider perspectives different from one’s own. The discipline to collaborate across difference. The courage to problemsolve collectively rather than fracture individually.

In classrooms and district offices across Minnesota, those competencies were not theoretical. They were practiced in real time.

Schools are not peripheral to democracy. They are where it is rehearsed daily in relationships, in conversations, and in decisions about how to respond to complexity.

By Hamse Warfa

When I think about the work we do at World Savvy, I always return to my own experience as a young refugee in the United States. I arrived as a teenager, having fled the civil war in Somalia, carrying with me the weight of loss, displacement, and uncertainty. I did not speak English, and I struggled to find a place where I felt safe, capable, and seen. Those early experiences shaped the core of who I am today and why I lead World Savvy. I know personally the power of education to transform a life when it is rooted in connection, dignity, and possibility. Through supporting educators and school districts, we prepare young people not just to succeed in the classroom but to engage meaningfully with the world around them, to work alongside others, and to contribute to their communities with confidence and care.

World Savvy has always worked to strengthen the conditions that make this possible. For more than two decades, we have partnered with schools to build adult capacity, support educators in navigating complex conversations about identity and belonging, and create learning environments where young people can engage with real-world issues thoughtfully and responsibly. Our work is not about reacting to headlines. It is about preparing schools and communities to meet the world as it is, to respond to challenges with curiosity rather than fear, and to ensure that students are active participants in shaping the future.

This moment in time has revealed the urgency of our mission. Across Minnesota, schools are navigating disruptions that go beyond curriculum. Federal immigration enforcement activity, community violence, and ongoing uncertainty have changed the daily reality for students, families, and educators. In some districts, absenteeism has reached unprecedented levels. Classrooms feel the impact not only in empty seats but in the strain carried by the adults responsible for sustaining learning, connection, and safety. These are not abstract issues. They are the conditions that shape whether students can show up fully, ask questions, and participate in the life of their schools.

Few organizations are positioned to respond in this moment as World Savvy can. Our work is rooted in long-standing relationships across Minnesota schools, built on trust, shared learning, and mutual commitment. Our leadership reflects the communities we serve, not as a symbol, but as a source of insight, credibility, and responsibility. I bring both my lived experience and my professional background in public service, from statewide workforce development to international advisory roles, to guide this work with clarity, empathy, and urgency. We do not take positions on policy or enforcement. Our role is to ensure that the conditions for learning remain intact when they are under threat, to help educators stay grounded when fear is present, to support schools in adapting instruction without losing dignity or connection, and to help young people make sense of their world through inquiry and reflection rather than silence or withdrawal.

Right now, we are meeting this moment in practical, relational, and intentional ways. We are facilitating listening and processing sessions for educators, convening peer learning networks, coaching school leaders on how to maintain psychological safety, and helping teachers lead conversations about identity, power, and belonging with care and clarity. We are co-designing inquiry modules and reflective routines tied directly to students’ experiences, helping schools prioritize learning goals when time is limited, and finding ways to maintain connection even when attendance is unpredictable. Sometimes our work is quiet. We sit with a first-year teacher as they navigate a difficult moment, play a game with students to preserve joy, or guide administrators in addressing misinformation with care. Other times it is bold. We reimagine school showcases or amplify student voice through journalism and storytelling. Every action reflects our mission, because this mission has always been about preparing schools, educators, and young people to thrive in a complex world.

The urgency of this work reveals itself in the daily lives of students and educators. Schools cannot do this alone. Teachers should not carry this alone. And organizations like World Savvy cannot sustain this work without the support of the community, funders, and partners who share our belief that education is more than instruction. It is the foundation for agency, dignity, and civic engagement. By investing in these capacities now, we ensure that learning environments remain places of connection, possibility, and resilience, even in the face of disruption.

I also know from experience how moments like what Minnesota and the United States are facing can ripple through communities and education systems. Political unrest, targeted enforcement, and fear erode trust in schools, destabilize workforces, and disrupt the routines that make learning possible. Educators face burnout, students face uncertainty, and entire districts can struggle to maintain stability. That is why our approach is both immediate and systemic. Through our whole-community and district-level work, we strengthen adult capacity, build relational trust, and create frameworks that allow schools to sustain learning today while positioning systems to withstand future disruptions. Meeting the moment requires attention to the urgent needs of students and educators, but it also demands foresight, planning, and the adaptation of practices and policies that preserve and improve the quality of life for every person in our communities.

What guides us is the conviction that young people are not passive recipients of history. They are meaning-makers, bridge-builders, and active participants in shaping the future. Minnesota is at a pivotal moment. We can allow disruption to fracture learning and belonging, or we can invest in the practices, relationships, and skills that allow schools to be places where inquiry, care, and connection thrive. World Savvy chooses the latter, because the future is not something that happens to young people. It is something they are building every day through the questions they ask, the stories they tell, and the courage they bring to learning how to live together in an interconnected, challenging, and beautiful world.

As a father of four children in Minnesota schools, and a member of the Somali community whose families and neighbors are living through this uncertainty, this work is deeply personal. Leading World Savvy in this moment means showing up not only as a CEO but as a parent, a community member, and someone who has experienced displacement and fear firsthand. I am guided every day by the knowledge that the decisions we make, the support we provide, and the care we offer matter not in theory, but in the real lives of students, educators, and families. This is why we meet this moment with intentionality, heart, and the full measure of our experience and commitment.

Schools today face high expectations. Teachers are being asked to implement new curricula, participate in ongoing professional learning, and meet growing accountability measures. At the same time, districts are focused on ensuring students meet clearly defined standards. Compliance and High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) sit at the top of the priority list, and the pressure to get it right is real.

At World Savvy, we understand that reality. We do not come in with a separate agenda. Our goal is the same as the schools and districts we partner with: helping educators and students succeed within the systems they are already navigating.

The difference is how we support that success.

HQIM and required frameworks provide an essential foundation for instruction. But without intentional support, even strong materials can feel rigid or disconnected from students’ lives. World Savvy works alongside teachers to bring required content to life. We help educators embed student voice, real-world challenges, and culturally responsive practices into the lessons they are already expected to teach.

One powerful example comes from Ms. Awo Salad, an 8th and 9th-grade teacher at a STEM-focused charter school serving a predominantly East African, Somali-majority student population.

In Awo’s classroom, standards-aligned instruction became a way for students to engage with issues directly affecting their communities. With World Savvy’s coaching and tools, students analyzed articles to better understand their rights and the broader social and political context shaping their lives. They then created informational and uplifting posters focused on knowing one’s rights, countering misinformation, and affirming community dignity.

These were not just classroom assignments. They were public-facing pieces, soon to be displayed in a local Somali mall.

“The impact was immediate,” Awo shared. “Students were more engaged because the work mattered to them personally.”

Awo also described how dialogue frameworks, questioning guides, and sentence stems helped push students toward deeper, more critical thinking, especially around global issues, identity, and justice. The quality of classroom conversations shifted. Students became more thoughtful, more confident, and more willing to engage with complex ideas.

What changed was not the standards. It was how students were invited into the learning.

This is what it looks like when compliance becomes a doorway rather than a constraint.

World Savvy’s approach is rooted in listening. Over time, we have recorded and reflected on the voices of hundreds of students across the country. Students consistently ask for learning that feels relevant, affirming, and connected to the world beyond school.

Our work helps educators translate that understanding into daily practice. Student agency and purpose are not added on. They are integrated into existing goals and expectations.

The impact is tangible. Students remember lessons where their ideas mattered, where collaboration felt real, and where learning connected to their lives. These experiences support academic outcomes while also building confidence, skills, and a sense of belonging.

Turning mandates into meaning does not require lowering expectations or abandoning required frameworks. It requires rethinking how existing tools, content, and professional learning can be used to create purposeful learning experiences. Experiences that prepare students for life beyond the classroom.

As Awo put it, “As a Somali-majority, East African-majority school, we are deeply committed to becoming learned, engaged citizens of this country. Our students have so much to give back. We are educating the next generation of engineers, doctors, and leaders who will shape our communities with knowledge, empathy, and intention.”

This is the work World Savvy partners with schools to do every day. We help educators meet their mandated goals while creating classrooms rooted in relevance, agency, and purpose.

When this happens, students do more than meet expectations. They exceed them. They feel capable, connected, and prepared to contribute meaningfully to their communities and the world around them. 

As 2025 comes to a close, we’ve been reflecting on the power of student voice to spark change. Across our Changemaker Hubs, leadership cohorts, and comprehensive school partnerships, a clear thread has emerged. When students are given space to speak, they share the wisdom of this moment, insights into what needs to shift, what questions need asking, and what actions matter. And when communities listen and make a plan, learning moves beyond the classroom. It becomes a catalyst for change in the community, tackling real-world issues and creating ripple effects that stretch far beyond school walls.

We saw this in rural Michigan, where a group of students redesigned their school’s mental health programming. They listened to families, gathered data, and worked alongside leaders to create a plan for change. Their teachers didn’t direct them. They held space, guided, and helped translate ideas into action. In those classrooms, leadership wasn’t granted to students as a title or a project. It emerged organically from the issues they cared about most.

A similar current ran through our Changemaker Hub at Wayne Finger Lakes. Students there weren’t just generating ideas. They were interrogating the very foundations of schooling, how it responds to the needs of their generation, what purpose it serves, and how it must evolve. Educators didn’t step in with answers. They stayed in conversation, working with students to turn questions into pathways for action.

At Ella Baker, the change is growing district-wide. Students began by reimagining their playground, how it could be inclusive and welcoming for all. That experience led to new conversations, new planning, and now, the beginnings of a community garden designed to benefit the broader neighborhood. The work didn’t stop at a single achievement. It set in motion a culture of student-led initiatives that move outward, step by step.

In Howell, classrooms have explored global perspectives while honoring neurodivergent learners’ voices, ensuring that students who experience the world differently also help shape it. And in Alexandria, educators are rethinking course design so that curiosity leads to civic action, projects that affect real neighborhoods and real people. In each of these places, when school systems hold space, listen deeply, and respond, learning transforms into something far more than academics.

World Savvy’s role is not to deliver programs from the outside. It is to nurture the conditions where this transformation becomes inevitable. Our Changemaker Hubs, leadership cohorts, and school partnerships aren’t isolated efforts. They are connected opportunities for adults and youth to grow together. Teachers, leaders, and community members learn alongside students how to embed durable skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, empathy, and problem-solving into every lesson and every decision. Students see their ideas valued and acted upon. Communities witness tangible change and begin to expect more of what young people can do. Momentum spreads not because we push it, but because people experience its impact firsthand.

In a time when societal challenges feel urgent and complex, these local movements matter more than ever. Communities will be the change that the government alone cannot deliver. What we’ve seen this year is that when schools center student voice and adult leadership, they spark action, foster learning, and create ripple effects across our nation. The academic space becomes a launchpad for real-world transformation, demonstrating that the future is not something students inherit. It is something they actively create.

As we look toward 2026, this groundswell continues. Every project, coaching session, and leadership reflection adds momentum. Not as a collection of isolated moments, but as a growing network of people committed to an education system that prepares young people not just to navigate the world, but to shape it. Together, educators, students, and supporters like you are building the kind of education, and the kind of future, every student deserves.

On Election Day last Tuesday, as voters across the country cast ballots to shape the future of their communities, young people were speaking up for their own lives, communities and futures at a World Savvy Changemaker Hub. Spaces like the Changemaker Hub give students practice in the very skills that sustain healthy communities: empathy, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. These are not abstract ideals. They are the durable skills that empower young people to engage fully in civic life and advocate for their future.

Beyond a Single Day

By embedding durable skills such as curiosity, adaptability, and empathy into education, we prepare young people not only to succeed but to participate meaningfully in democracy. At the Hub, students led by naming challenges and co-creating solutions alongside educators and community members.

At one Minnesota school, students built on past work they led with World Savvy to make their playground more accessible to all kids. This time, their focus was on recess, how to make it more enjoyable and inclusive for everyone. Their poster read:

“Our idea is to help recess be more enjoyable for everybody. We will do this by organizing the soccer field and making more choices for toys and equipment available.”

They didn’t stop there. Students mapped out an action plan that included service and philanthropy, recruiting volunteers to paint the soccer field and organizing a fundraiser to purchase new equipment. These ideas reflected what World Savvy’s approach is all about, turning empathy and collaboration into concrete steps for community improvement.

And when the day ended, the work did not. The ideas and energy carried forward into classrooms, staff meetings, and homes, fueling new questions and new approaches to teaching and learning that honor student voice.

Building community by embedding life skill

When education creates space for young people to use their voices, communities grow stronger. This Minnesota Changemaker Hub showed what happens when we connect learning to civic life: students see themselves as changemakers, not someday, but right now.

A single day of dialogue can spark a movement, because when students know their voices matter, they do not just imagine a better future. They help build it.

Learn more about how schools can embed these future-ready skills and how to support this work.

When we think about education, it is easy to picture classrooms filled with textbooks, worksheets, and tests. For decades, this has been the default approach: the acquisition of knowledge measured in isolation, how much a student can memorize, regurgitate, or reproduce on an exam. But the world outside school does not work that way. Ask any workforce leader: Work does not hand you a multiple-choice test when you need to solve a problem, negotiate a disagreement, or launch a project. Life asks: Can you take what you know and use it to make a difference

Context, the ability to see how knowledge matters in the real world, is what bridges this gap. It transforms abstract skills into tools for impact. Math becomes meaningful when it helps plan a community garden, analyze local air quality, or budget for a school project. Literacy becomes powerful when it allows students to advocate for themselves or craft messages that inspire change. Critical thinking becomes urgent when applied to real questions: How do we balance competing interests? How do we solve problems when solutions are not clear-cut?

At the same time, much of today’s education landscape has been shaped by priorities like standardized testing, structured curricula, and managing large classrooms, all of which serve important purposes. But when these elements become the whole story, we risk losing the deeper “why” behind learning. Students are eager for relevance; they want to see how what they learn connects to their lives and communities. The opportunity before us is to bring context back into focus, to make learning both rigorous and real so every young person can see their education as a pathway to purpose.

At a World Savvy partner school, Sejong Academy Korean Immersion School, students in the K-Pop Club, led by teacher Kyungnam Hur, explored questions of identity and community through collaborative songwriting and performance. They considered how to express who they are and how they relate to their communities through music, how to create songs that reflect shared identities and experiences, and why collaboration in artistic creation matters. Two original songs emerged from this student-led project, each exploring universal themes such as friendship and graduation. Through songwriting and performance, students expressed both the emotional depth and celebratory energy of these life transitions. Taking the lead in every stage of production—from composing melodies and writing lyrics to recording, editing with production software, and creating music videos—students built confidence and technical skills as creators. Their work brought multicultural perspectives to life, blending diverse influences and honoring their identities. This collaborative process modeled inclusion, storytelling, and respect for global perspectives.

The stakes could not be higher. Young people entering adulthood today will inherit challenges that are global in scale but local in impact. Preparing them is about giving them the tools, the agency, and the context to act. We know that passing tests is important for gaining more opportunities, that’s why making test content relevant and engaging is holisitc to academic achievement and real world preparation. When learning is grounded in the real world, it stops being a set of abstract requirements and starts being a preparation for life itself. 

Education without context leaves potential on the table. Context without education leaves energy unfocused. Together, they create a generation of learners who are not just knowledgeable but empowered to make change.