Kirkland Youth Council biennial summit spotlights school safety and teen mental health

Members of the Kirkland Youth Council organized a biennial youth summit in Kirkland to gather student views, and attendees identified school safety and teen mental health as their top priorities.

The Youth Summit Coordinator, speaking for the Kirkland Youth Council, said the council surveyed students across Kirkland’s middle and high schools and built the summit around the issues students flagged as most important. "This youth summit is something that we do every other year as Kirkland Youth Council. I'm the youth summit coordinator, and today we surveyed our community and students in schools across Kirkland, both middle and high schools. And 2 of the most important topics that came up for students was, school safety and teen mental health," the coordinator said.

Students attending the summit described the event as a rare opportunity to raise concerns directly to local decision-makers. "I think it's a really cool event. I really like that we're allowed to, like, talk about, like, subjects, especially school safety because I know that that's really important for kids. And then I also like the mental health, of course," one student said, adding that discussion can help peers learn how to support each other.

Another student said the summit offered a chance to present views to a "higher authority" and to influence improvements in the community, while a different attendee emphasized the value of shared stories: "I liked how everybody was sharing. I think it's really important to have people to share because you never know what somebody's going through."

Council members and attendees framed the summit as both a listening exercise and a way to connect students across different schools in Kirkland. "For people who are attending the youth summit, I hope that they feel empowered to share their own lived experience and understand that any feedback that we can give to the city or to our schools is super valuable in helping make Kirkland a better place for everyone," the Youth Summit Coordinator said.

The meeting transcript records discussion and expressions of support and encouragement for student engagement; it does not record any formal votes, directives to staff, funding decisions, or specific follow-up steps to be taken by the city or school district.