Starting Small, Thinking Big: Students Launch Speak Up Speak Out with Ideas for Community Change

Growing up on San Antonio's West Side, Izel Briseño has noticed how differently neighborhoods across the city can look and feel. From the condition of roads and sidewalks to the infrastructure that shapes everyday life, she and her project partner began asking why some communities seem to have access to resources that others don't.

For Izel, a sophomore at CAST Med High School, these observations have become the starting point for a student-led investigation comparing infrastructure on San Antonio's West Side and North Side.

“Why don't we get the same infrastructure that they do?” Izel asks.

It's exactly the kind of question that the CAST Schools Speak Up Speak Out San Antonio Civics Fair (SUSO), a part of the University of Texas at Austin’s Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life’s larger project, encourages students to explore: one rooted in their lived experiences, fueled by curiosity, and capable of inspiring meaningful community change.

On October 28, students in grades 6–12 from six schools across four San Antonio school districts gathered at The DoSeum for the Speak Up Speak Out Community Launch Event. The gathering brought young people together with community leaders to explore the power of their voices and begin imagining how their ideas could make a difference.

Among the presenters was Tori Falcon, Senior Communications Manager at MOVE Texas, who led students through an interactive art activity demonstrating how individual voices can contribute to collective movements.

“Young people already care and are ready to make their communities better,” Falcon reflected. “They also know their communities deeply and are ready and willing to lead if we give them the space to.”

For Izel, hearing from community leaders helped her see her own project in a new light.

“Like they started small, I'm starting small,” she reflected. “What if one day my project actually does something and I get to be involved in it?”

That possibility is at the heart of Youth Leadership in Action, CAST Schools' commitment to elevating student voice, cultivating agency, and creating authentic opportunities for young people to lead.

Through experiences like Speak Up Speak Out, students aren't simply learning about civic engagement. They're practicing it—identifying issues that matter to them, investigating the conditions shaping their communities, and developing ideas that deserve to be heard.

And just as importantly, they're discovering that leadership doesn't have to wait until adulthood.

As Izel put it, “It just takes a moment of dedication, you know.”

Programs like Speak Up Speak Out are possible with support from UP Partnership and because of community partners who believe young people deserve opportunities to lead today. You can help CAST Schools create more experiences that amplify student voices, build confidence, and turn student ideas into community impact. Here’s how:

Interested in joining the youth voice movement as a SUSO judge? Click here.

Know a school who is interested in bringing the SUSO program to their students? Let us know here.