History

In our fifth year, five new assembly members were sworn in after fall elections were administered by the Think Tank. Many members were affected by the Eaton Fire. Some lost their homes, and many were displaced. Because of the devastation in our district, schools had to be closed for almost three weeks in January 2025. This time, we held virtual sessions, where we gathered to grieve and plan. Two of our members presented heart-wrenching talks at the reopening ceremony. Despite our losses, we continued to meet and plan, and the most exciting part of the year was the Think Tank’s first Youth Conference. The year ended with our 3-week summer internship. 

Our fourth year was a high-pressure time for our team since our entire year was dedicated to creating a new structure for student voices to be represented at the PUSD Board of Education meetings. In November 2023, PUSD’s Board of Education approved our formal proposal for student elections. Over the course of the fall semester, our team interviewed 15 candidates, created election ballots, and administered elections.

June and July, 2023, the Student Think Tank offered its first summer internship in which more than 12 students participated. The internship stretched for six weeks, and during the summer, we interviewed different leaders in the district. We also presented to PUSD’s Board of Education, and requested to create a rotational structure for student board members. Our request was approved in August 2023,  and our team spent a year researching different structures.

The formal sessions for the Think Tank began in January 2022 though Cohort 1 met and planned throughout summer and fall 2021; the team interview new applicants. We undertook research projects during the spring semester and maintained the same committees as established during our first year: Equity, Mental Health, and Curriculum. We also continued collecting stories for our online publication, The Learning Curve (TLC).

Pasadena Unified School District’s High School Leadership Think Tank is the first student-led cross-district cohort to work collaboratively to research student and regional concerns and histories. Because the program was initiated during the pandemic, we had the opportunity to meet for uninterrupted two-hour online sessions that helped create connections between the different schools. All participating students worked together to identify urgent issues (equity, mental health, and curriculum) and we conducted research on how to improve the district in each of these areas.