The Institute for Global Learning's first Student Action Summit at Poly

On Saturday, February 21, 2026, Poly hosted its first Student Action Summit in collaboration with the Institute for Global Learning (IGL). IGL has been coordinating Student Summits globally, and the event at Poly, focused on climate action, was the first one on the West Coast of the U.S. Eight student leaders, Sabreen E. ’27, Michelle X. ’28, William P. ’28, Ryan K. ’28, Audrey M. ’27, Ellie C. ’29, Olivia Z. ’28, and Alexandra T. ’27, as well as advisors Laura Fleming, Avi McClelland-Cohen, and Nora Murphy prepared since October of last year for the summit, ultimately hosting nearly 40 students from six regional schools, some from as far away as Monterey, CA.

The theme of the summit was "What if We Get it Right? Envisioning a Future of Climate Solutions,” which is in line with LA Climate Week's theme for this year. The goal of the summit was to have students engage in meaningful dialogue with peers from regional schools about the issues that matter to them. This summit was all student-led, meaning that discussions, gallery shares, exhibitions, and networking opportunities were all planned and facilitated by the eight student leaders. 

Planning was hard work, both for the advisors that prepared the students for months, and for the students to learn how to host an event of this size, plan the logistics, and coordinate the content of the summit. The eight student leaders were all trained to lead "Dialogues" by Dr. Clare Sisisky, the Executive Director of the IGL, over multiple sessions. Dialogues are small group student conversations with the guidance of facilitators. Students share their experiences and ideas on a topic and practice essential skills related to respectful civil discourse, skills that develop how to listen for understanding and empathy.

Ryan K. ’28 remarked, “I was really excited for the summit. All of the student leaders and faculty worked really hard to make it happen. We had a lot of planning meetings where we coordinated with guest speakers, practiced facilitating dialogues, and put together the event. For the actual event, it was really amazing to see it all come together and hear from both peers and industry leaders about different facets of the climate crisis while discussing potential solutions.”

On the day of the summit, the Poly student leaders were anxious to see how the event might go. Alexandra T. ’27 said, “I expected that it may be a bit awkward since there were students from different schools, and we didn't know each other, but everyone was very engaged and thoughtful the entire time.”

In addition to the small group student dialogues, the Poly leaders also organized and moderated a panel discussion with industry experts and facilitated Community Action Planning breakout groups. Alexandra continued, “I was most surprised by the student breakout presentations because a lot of students are doing some really great work regarding climate, including projects like aquaponics, citizen science, composting, and more! I had not heard the full content of the talks beforehand, so I was very impressed in hearing their work.”

For Olivia Z. ’28, this summit was a first big step into getting more involved in being part of the climate action movement. She said, “Before this experience, climate action wasn’t something I had really thought about. With the recent fires, though, environmental issues felt much more immediate and personal. So, I saw this as a good opportunity to learn more and get involved, even though I didn’t have clear expectations since I wasn’t sure what planning a summit would involve. The event ended up being a wonderful surprise. I thought I would just be helping out here and there, but instead I got to take on a real creative role. It felt much more hands-on and meaningful than I imagined, which made the whole experience way more rewarding.”

Junior Audrey M. ’27 said that one main takeaway from the summit was, “how important community is in creating lasting change. Every student who shared a climate solution never did it alone. It truly takes a village, whether that's administrator support for your composting system, a few friends helping you snap photos to add to a database, or even your whole school coming together to prioritize sustainable initiatives. In our own way, we created our own special community convening at this action summit, outlining future steps to take action sustainably at our schools.”

Since the success of the summit, the group left more energized to continue and grow Poly’s climate action strategies on campus now. Alexandra remarked, “Poly is quite ahead in terms of sustainability compared to some other schools with our established composting program; solar panels; etc, but we also still have room for improvement. A big highlight in the summit was taking action, and after some community action planning, we are excited to come out with some plans on improving Poly's current system.”

Ryan agreed, saying, “I think it's really important going forward that we continue incorporating environmental issues into the standard curriculum to build awareness—because awareness is what drives change.”

 

And for any student who wants to get involved in participating in climate action plans at Poly and more globally, Audrey has some advice. “My biggest advice would be to reach out—don't hesitate if you have an issue you're passionate about, even if it seems like no one else cares. I think many students, including myself, were surprised to see so many other peers who were just as passionate about fighting climate change.“