The 2024 Educators Rising National Conference was a comprehensive celebration of the future of the teaching profession. Activities included competitions in which future teachers showcased their skills in lesson planning, designing bulletin boards, and more — plus a signing day in which students celebrated their next steps into education at the collegiate level.
Vanessa Buttler
Two events had a special connection. The Emerging Leader Fellows program is a group designed to develop leaders under the age of 40. The new cohort of fellows that began their tenure at the conference includes Vanessa Buttler. And the new group of Educators Rising national student officers who began their term at the conference included Buttler’s former student, Journey Harris, the 2024 Educators Rising national student president.
Beyond their shared love for teaching, the two have a common goal — promoting student voice.
Buttler received the 2024 Erin Young Award during a ceremony at the conference. This honor is awarded to an adult involved in Educators Rising who “demonstrates an exceptional ability to empower students and elevate their voice.” The award is named for Erin Young, the founding chief content strategist of Educators Rising, who passed away in 2015.
“Mrs. (Buttler) epitomizes the essence of encouraging student voice,” one student who nominated her said. She “fostered an atmosphere where students felt valued and heard, where our opinions truly mattered. She made space for open dialog and mutual respect, encouraging us to share our thoughts without reservation.”
Journey Harris
Currently the education and training program instructor at Cleburne High School in Cleburne, Texas, Buttler is a strong advocate for career and technical student organizations (CTSOs) — like Educators Rising — and believes in the transformative power of education. “We are far more than our title,” she said. “My leadership philosophy is rooted in the fundamental belief that a true leader places the growth and well-being of others at the forefront.”
Journey Harris, a sophomore at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, works to embody student voice. One of the things that Harris strives for is advocacy. “I can remember time after time when my school invited speakers to our school to speak to us. Sometimes they spoke about events, and sometimes they just encouraged us, but I always remembered who they were,” she says.
“As a public speaker, I believe our voice could speak life to the younger generations. We can change the world because we can communicate, and that creates connections!”
In the upcoming year, the 2024-25 Educators Rising national student officers, led by Harris, will plan activities for next year’s conference as well as represent the organization, and the voices of its members, at various conferences and panels throughout the country.
This article is a corrected version of the one that appears in the September 2024 issue of Kappan, Vol. 106, No.1, p. 62.
