ANNUAL
At UP for Learning, we know that real change begins small—one conversation, one partnership, one empowered young person at a time. When youth and adults work together to share power, voice, and responsibility, those ripples grow into waves of transformation in schools and communities. In this FY25 Annual Report, we show how years of collaboration with UP help those waves settle into cultures where every member feels seen, heard, and valued.
One of UP’s greatest strengths is our ability to meet schools, teams, and districts where they are. We know the ripple can begin in many places:
YOUTH. In its second year, our Youth Internship Program (YIP) equips young leaders to thrive in their career pathways while also driving change in their communities.
ADULT PARTNERS. As one educator reflected: “Asking us to reflect on our ‘why’ helped me rediscover why I wanted to become a teacher in the first place—and more importantly, who I want to be for my students and my community.”
DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION.
By embedding
youth-adult collaboration from elementary through high school, UP helps districts elevate collective decision-making as the foundation for a sustainable, equitable, and just future.
ORGANIZATIONAL PARTNERS. UP treasures long-term relationships with state agencies and non-profits who share our belief that youth voice must extend beyond schools to spark community-wide change.
Together, we create opportunities for young people to lead, innovate, and contribute meaningfully as global citizens, community changemakers, and essential members of the workforce. UP remains steadfast in our commitment to work with all schools, regardless of financial capacity, while carefully growing our programs and ensuring sustainability.
Thank you for standing with us in transforming education—at a time when every voice matters!
UP By the Numbers
Number of youth-adult teams:
75 685 teams since 2008
Number of schools:
118
Number of youth leaders:
1621
16% increase over 2024! 8439 leaders since 2008
Expanding Beyond Vermont
328 adults trained
4 of 9 voting members on UP’s Board of Directors are youth
10 Youth Program Specialists (high school/post secondary college students) who worked 2484 hours
(July 2024–June 2025)
8 Prevention Organizations supporting Getting to ‘Y’ teams
2 four-part webinars hosted by UP for Learning
8 statewide or national conferences where UP presented
1150+ hours of compensated time for UP’s youth Co-Facilitators
9 monthly virtual Racial Justice Dialogue events led by youth leaders
12 Youth Action Council gatherings
125+ retreats co-facilitated with youth!
MEET CALE, YOUTH PROGRAM SPECIALIST
“I study Statistics at UVM, and my work with UP has given me the chance to do something my education doesn’t always allow— focus on methodology and translate statistics into language others can understand. I’ve designed survey analysis tools and explained the “how” and “why” behind the data, helping the team use findings to expand its impact in classrooms. I’ve also learned how data informs grant proposals and funding decisions.
“Returning to UP after being a team participant in middle and high school, I’ve seen how much the organization has grown. A great example was when we redesigned one of the surveys—not just a quick edit, but a month of focus groups, meetings, and spreadsheets to connect questions. That process showed me how seriously UP takes every detail to ensure the data reflects youth voices in the most meaningful way.”
Pre/Post Survey results from FY25 show clear evidence of growing agency and shared leadership:
26% increase in young people who feel a strong responsibility to make their school better.
12% increase in confidence to engage adults—and an 11% increase in confidence to engage peers—in conversations about school improvement.
13% increase in the ability to use data as a tool to advocate for meaningful change.
These gains reflect more than numbers—they show a deepening commitment to partnership, dialogue, and collective action in shaping the future of education.
2024–25 Stories
BRANDYWINE SCHOOL DISTRICT (DE): ELEVATING STUDENT VOICE, YEAR AFTER YEAR
UP for Learning continues to play a vital role in advancing the Delaware Department of Education’s goal to elevate and empower student voice. Over the past three years, with generous support from the Longwood Foundation, UP has helped all six middle and high schools in the Brandywine School District (BSD) establish Student Voice Advisories (SVAs)— essential spaces where young people share lived experiences, co-create solutions, and strengthen belonging across their schools and communities.
The results are powerful:
• 57% feel heard and respected by peers and adults (more than double from 26%)
Student Voice Advisories are now a sustained part of BSD’s culture. At the 2025 Student Voice Advisory Conference, teams presented whole-school Panorama data showing continued districtwide growth from 2023–2025:
• Wellness up 7 points to 85%
• Well-being up 4 points to 61%
• Diversity & Inclusion up 1 point to 76%
• 96% of students express commitment to school improvement (up from 87%)
• 85% believe they can make meaningful change (up from 54%)
These gains reflect a student body that increasingly feels heard, valued, and capable of driving change. In 2025–26, this model will expand to all nine elementary schools in BSD—achieving full districtwide implementation—and extend into the Red Clay School District.
MEET KIERA, YOUTH PROGRAM SPECIALIST
Kiera Bourne-Bey joined UP through the Brandywine School District SVA project as a student at Concord High School. Now a pre-veterinary student at Delaware State University, she says her work as a Youth Program Specialist “helps me use what I learn to make a difference and support other students in having a say in their education.”
“I focus on leadership, teamwork, and making sure everyone’s voice is heard,” Kiera says. “I’m realizing that UP really focuses on creating a safe space where everyone can lead and be heard. When I was a participant, I mostly saw the fun and learning side. Now that I’m in this new role, I see all the planning, organizing, and care that goes into making the programs work. It feels more organized and focused on helping people grow as leaders.”
METHUEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS (MA): EMPOWERING YOUTH, IGNITING YEAR 2
Over 80 students from five Methuen, MA, schools joined their district’s Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) team last January, funded by a MA DESE grant to elevate student voice and strengthen safe, healthy and supportive learning environments.
The team built relationships, analyzed district data, designed their own data collection, and advocated for change on issues ranging from attendance and
bullying to classroom behavior and student-teacher relationships. They gathered insights through surveys, observations, and conversations with peers, staff, and administrators.
Their work culminated on May 9th at the MA DESE YPAR Showcase, where students shared their findings with adult advisors and state policymakers. Youth keynote, Alicia Sakelaris of Comprehensive Grammar School reflected, “Youth voice matters because it builds up confidence and empowerment, so students can show up every day knowing that they have a role to play in their schools.”
Looking ahead to 2025–26, the team will continue the YPAR cycle, welcoming new voices, hosting events like Methuen High School’s freshman activities fair, and building on the insights of the past year. Beyond tangible school improvements, students celebrated the power of collaboration and peer connection, one noting, “I love how well my YPAR team worked together to achieve our goals and amazing things!!”
MEET ANA, PROGRAM ASSOCIATE
Ana Lindert-Boyes started work with UP as a high school freshman in 2017. Ana will graduate from Boston University in 2026; the proximity to Methuen has allowed Ana to work in-person on this team.
“As an Education major, my work with UP has always been complementary to my overall education and studies,” Ana says. ”Coming back for year two in Methuen creates the space and opportunity for forward momentum for all the teams, especially since at the end of last year, they acknowledged that there is lots more to do. For me, it’s been a highlight to get to support the youth who have stepped up into a significant facilitation role at all our retreats. Working at the district level, I’m holding a different role with more responsibility than I’ve taken on in the past, so I’m thankful to get to be a part of it!
LAMOILLE NORTH SUPERVISORY UNION (VT): FIVE YEARS OF EQUITY IN ACTION
The Lamoille North Supervisory Union (LNSU) Equity Design Team (EDT) launched in 2021–22 and has since become a driving force for inclusion and belonging across the district. The team has led professional workshops, presented to administrators and the school board, and organized schoolwide events engaging hundreds of students. Their efforts have contributed to measurable improvements in students feeling safer and more welcomed in their schools.
This year, the EDT expanded its reach to all five LNSU elementary schools. With UP’s support, middle and high school students trained teams of fourth–sixth graders and co-led three districtwide retreats, guiding younger peers in leadership, YPAR methods, and action planning.
UP’s data over the past two years shows remarkable growth:
• 92% of students believe they can create change, reflecting greater self-efficacy
• Agreement that “people at school listen to and respect my ideas” rose by 36 percentage points
• Students feeling valued grew by 28 percentage points since 2023
• Recognition of team diversity surged by 50 percentage points, with nearly all students reporting inclusion of diverse identities
• Commitment to school improvemen t remains consistently high
Together, these results show how youth leadership and cross-grade collaboration are transforming LNSU’s culture—fostering equity, respect, and shared responsibility across the district.
MEET ERUBEY & LILY-JEAN, CO-FACILITATORS
Erubey Lopez and Lily-Jean French serve as facilitators on the LNSU team this year. Erubey, Lamoille Union High School Class of 2021 and Pomona College Class of 2025, rejoined UP this summer. He was a member of Lamoille’s Youth and Adults Transforming School Together (YATST) team from 2017-2021. He describes the experience of returning to LNSU as profound. “We talked about doing the things the EDT has enacted — inservice with student voice, leadership development at all grade levels, and it has been implemented. It is so good to see youth take responsibility for our small community.”
Lily-Jean, a Lamoille Union HS sophomore, is in her third year with the EDT and second as an UP Youth Intern. An upper class student she respected invited her in as an eighth grader. Now she celebrates working with elementary aged youth. “There is an age gap, but we are working on parallel projects with unified goals. Our work contributes to getting them interested.”
SEVEN YEARS STRONG: MONUMENT MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL’S (MA) JOURNEY
MEET SEAN, ADULT PARTNER
For seven years, Monument Mountain and UP have worked together to build a school culture where youth and adults share power, shape decisions, and model true systems change. Grounded in a belief in students’ capacity and the importance of strong teacher-student relationships, this partnership has grown year by year, fully integrating youth into school leadership.
From one UP program (YATST) to full schoolwide integration: Early years focused on social and mental health, school climate, program changes, and communication. Today, the Student Adult Advisory Board (SAAB) represents all 52 teaching advisories, working through committees on academics, wellness, environment, communication, and equity.
Powerful Outcomes: Over the past three years, 97% of students believe they can improve their school, trust in adults rose to 90%, and 97% report actively sharing their ideas —evidence of a school where voices are heard and valued.
Building on this foundation, SAAB now collaborates with the Restorative Justice group to embed restorative practices, co-design peer mediator training, and strengthen student responsibility, peer collaboration, and inclusion. Monument Mountain’s journey shows how sustained youth-adult partnership transforms both school culture and student leadership.
Looking back on seven years of partnership with UP for Learning, Sean Flynn, a Guidance Counselor at Monument Mountain, shared his reflections and hopes for the school where he was a student, a member of the first youth-adult team that worked with UP, and where this fall he begins his 28th year of work.
Sean described UP’s contribution: “UP’s partnership gave us the language and protocols to bridge the work from our history and put our spirit into action in ways that students really responded to – challenging us – and ultimately joining us as authentic partners.”
Sean reflected on how important it is to “pay attention to what resonates at this moment in time and engage where people are while holding onto the abiding character that inspires our shared work.”
TURNING RIPPLES INTO WAVES
UP for Learning has become a nationally recognized leader in elevating youth voice through long-standing partnerships with state agencies and nonprofits. Across Vermont, Massachusetts, Delaware, and beyond, our work connects high-level educational goals with the everyday challenges youth face in schools and communities.
Youth consistently report barriers to meaningful engagement: a declining sense of connection to their communities, limited opportunities to be genuinely heard by school and community leaders, and decisions made about them without their input. UP’s programs directly address these challenges, creating spaces where youth can analyze data, take action, and lead change.
UP’s early growth was rooted in the Vermont Agency of Education (AOE), evolving from funder to advocate to full partner in ensuring youth voice shapes educational policy. This collaboration led to Project AWARE, now in its second iteration with the Vermont Department of Mental Health, focusing on school climate, trauma-informed practices, and socialemotional learning across multiple districts.
For over a decade, UP has partnered with the Vermont Department of Health through Getting to ‘Y’ (GTY), equipping youth to examine Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data, identify strengths and concerns, and act on their findings. In FY25, UP and VDH developed new resources for youth and adults to deepen understanding of the YRBS, with an upcoming pilot integrating Restorative Practices. GTY has also been replicated statewide in New Hampshire.
Over the past year, UP contributed to the Vermont Civic Health Index and Vermont Vision for Youth Success, highlighting that while youth want to engage, structural barriers often prevent their participation. UP continues to lead efforts to dismantle these barriers, leveraging partnerships with the Secretary of State, University of Vermont’s Center for Rural Studies, Vermont Council on Rural Development, Vermont League of Cities and Towns, and many more.
From UP’s founder, Helen Beattie’s, kitchen table in 2008 to partnerships across the country today, UP proves that the commitment of one youth, one adult, or one school can ripple outward—sparking lasting transformation in schools, communities, and beyond.
2024-2025 FINANCIALS
EXPENSES
“This journey reminded me that empathy must be at the heart of everything we do. Not just kindness, but a deep, human understanding of our students’ lives, challenges, and strengths. That’s the real work, and the real gift, of teaching.”
—UP adult participant
Core Values and Beliefs
Our fundamental value is to SEEK EQUITY & JUSTICE.
We believe that educational equity is a human right. All young people have the right to a meaningful and engaging education. In order to pursue this aim, we are guided by these principles and values...
SHARE RESPONSIBILITY
Learning and change must be transparent and must be driven by adults and youth as equal partners.
START FROM STRENGTHS
Youth and adults have the wisdom and capacity to orchestrate change. Beginning with what’s working provides hope and energizes a community to embrace change.
CREATE OPEN DIALOGUE
Deep conversation is central to changing school cultures. When systems are designed for youth to be engaged as full partners with equal value, the work of school transformation can occur by creating a shared vision for education and the learning process.
EMPLOY DATA TO DRIVE CHANGE
Research is a vitally important way to build credibility between youth and adults. When a community works together to make meaning of their own data, they are strengthened by what they learn and emboldened to take action.
THANK YOU TO UP FOR LEARNING’S SUPPORTERS & COLLABORATORS
Individual Supporters 2024-2025
Tom Alderman
Anonymous
Kay Augustine
Isis Bandele-Asante
Daniel Baron
Helen Beattie
Ted and Anne Castle
City Market — Rally for Change
Amy Demarest
Erin Dezell
Harry Frank
Val Gardner
Judy Geer and Richard Dreissigacker
Kandy Hutman
Karen Kane
Ruth Kidde
Joseph Kiefer
Georgianne Klipa
Kayla Loving
Greta McHaney-Trice
James Nagle
Eli Pine
Folami Prescott-Adams
Taria Pritchett
David Scherr
Bill Schubart
Karen Scott
Kathryn Scott
Leslie and Allan Slan
John Ungerleider
Donations were made in honor of:
The dedicated staff
Helen Beattie
Lindsey Halman
Jon Kidde
Ana Lindert-Boyes
Meredith Scott
Donations were made to the Ben Williams Scholarship Fund:
In memory of Jan Westervelt
In honor of Kate Merrigan
Collaborators
Communities for Alcohol and Drug-Free Youth, CADY
Granite United Way
Greater Sullivan County Public Health Network
Hartford Community Coalition
Howard Center
HTI Catalysts/Listening 4 Justice
Jon Kidde, Green Omega, L3C
Lamoille Restorative Center
MA Service Alliance
Mentor VT
Middlebury College - Conflict Transformation Collaborative
Mt Ascutney Prevention Partnership
Mystic Valley Public Health
Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital
Pinetree Institute
Project All Together Now
Rutland County Community Justice Center
Shelburne Farms
Southern Rockingham Coalition for Healthy Youth (SoRock)
Starling Collaborative
The Alliance For Community Transformations (ACT)
The Collaborative
University of Vermont
University of New Mexico
Vermont Council on Rural Development
Vermont Network
Vermont Principals Association
Vermont Restorative Approaches Collaborative
Vermont Rural Education Collaborative
Vermont Student Anti-racism Network
Vermont Superintendents
Association
Washington Central Friends of Education, Inc.
Economic Equity and Accessibility
We are committed to ensuring affordable access to our programs, and prioritizing our work with our most economically challenged and underserved schools. UP for Learning is committed to ensuring all schools have access to UP’s work regardless of their ability to pay.
Thanks to our philanthropic supporters we were able to realize our vision of greater educational equity.
Foundations
Delaware Dept. of Education
MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)
In-Kind Donors
Cabot Creamery • City Market/Onion River Coop
Darn Tough • Hunger Mountain Coop
Ministry of Culture • Pat LaClair • Skida
Stone’s Throw Vermont
Vermont Candle and Supply Company
Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum
OUR VISION for the FUTURE . . . iseducational equityfor every student.
$100,000+
Builds UP for Learning’s capacity to create equity and justice through innovation and collaboration.
$75,000
Underwrites UP’s work with one school district, creating real change and a culture shift across all schools within the system.
$50,000
Promotes UP’s work in one school over several years, increasing the likelihood that the entire school will develop a practice of student-centered learning.
$25,000
Signature Sponsor of the Youth Internship Program (YIP).
$10,000
Communicates the capacity of youth and their accomplishments as innovators and leaders through the development of new resources and materials, social media, and program-specific videos.
$5,000
Supports projects undertaken by the Youth Action Council for one year.
$1,000
Gives a youth leader the opportunity to take part in the Youth Action Council, sharing their experience on state, regional, and national platforms.
$500
Allows UP Faculty to travel to one national conference to increase awareness of UP and its impacts.
$250, $100, $50, $25
Every gift helps to support UP for Learning’s important programs and the growing number of youth facilitators working to make change in their community.