By Cecy Frescas

As a high school student I am aware of the importance for students to get involved in their education. This is why I think it is so important for events that engage students with education to exist. Recently, there was an event in the University of New Mexico that served this purpose – engaging students with education. The event was a Town Hall on Education, and it was an intended for the students to express their feelings towards the way the education system functions and to let their voices be heard on what changes have to be made.

As a part of the committee that helped plan this event, I was very pleased with the results we obtained. We had a really good amount of students show up to the Town Hall and we were able to see the perspective from high school and middle school students. This event was able to demonstrate that students do care about the way their education functions, and they are willing to spend some of their free time to talk about what does not work in the education system.

There were also elementary students who performed a skit on the importance of college. I thought this was something really neat because it's good for students to start thinking about college at an early stage. I know that these young students have a better opportunity to plan their future because they're already being exposed to the impact that college can have on their lives. From this event I was able to gain better knowledge on what the students really think about our education system. I was able to see that students have a common interest in the changes that could be made with our education. It’s important for students to feel like their voices are being heard because what they think about their education is valuable to everyone.