On April 20, 2024 at 10 am, The Winslow Township Middle School hosted its first ever Teen Summit. This took place at The Winslow Township Middle School Cafeteria. It was hosted by the Winslow Township Board of Education members and led by advisors, Ms. Hallinan and Ms. Coffee, who both also serve as school counselors for WTMS.

The Teen Summit  included 12 student panelists who were selected after an application process. 

Susie Coffee, 8th Grade Counselor and Teen Summit Advisor commented, “The Teen Summit was a youth-centered panel-discussion that set the stage for our middle school students to genuinely respond to questions about how they feel about various topics.  The topics included today’s education, social media, humanitarianism and healthy relationships.”

Mr. Shropshire, WTMS Principal, kicked off the event by introducing his student panelists, WTSD Board Member facilitators, Joe Thomas and Kelly Thomas, and then went on to acknowledge the Superintendent, Dr. Poteat. 

The Teen Summit was broken into two sessions and panels.  If you happened to stop by the Teen Summit, you would be welcomed with a free continental breakfast, lunch, DJ entertainment, and 360 photo booth. 

The Advisors were very pleased with the amount of people that came to the Teen Summit and participated.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves!

“It was really great to see all of the people come together for such a great cause.  There were some great conversations between the students and board members.  Our students are amazing young leaders with some great ideas and it was really nice to hear their opinions and views.  I have to say, my favorite part was definitely the dance battle between the old school and new school groups!” explained Mrs Irvin, WTMS teacher. 

As with anything worth mentioning, there was a lot of preparation that was put into the Teen Summit. The advisors have been working since January to put this together, and finalize all of the details. 

Khloe Oum, 8th Grader and Teen Summit Panelist stated, “We had meetings on Wednesdays after school in the library and talked about issues in the school. There was definitely some great conversations going on within the panel meetings”

Gisele Ross, 8th Grader who attended Teen Summit added, “My experience at the Teen Summit was definitely different and interesting. Our school has never had this type of event before so it was nice to see how it would all come together and what it was about!”

We can’t wait to see what the Teen Summit brings us next year!