July 30 ECLC Summer Institute: Be Who They Need: Cultivating Care, Connection, and Student Agency
Great schools are built on strong relationships—and the adults who choose to show up with intention, clarity, and care. ECLC’s 2026 Summer Institute expands on the call to “be who youth need,” exploring how educators can build trust, maintain healthy boundaries, and create conditions where students feel both supported and empowered.
Participants will examine what it means to be a “trusted adult” and how collective responsibility strengthens impact. Breakout sessions extend this work into practice—unpacking the language and expression of care, designing teen-centered learning experiences that foster true agency, and reimagining learning as a deeply human, relational process.
Through a dynamic keynote featuring One Trusted Adult author Brooklyn Raney, and choice-based workshops featuring other experts including iThrive Games Executive Director Susan Rivers, participants will explore how strong relationships serve as the foundation for student success, how intentional expressions of care shape school culture, and how shifting ownership to students fosters independence and purpose.
From neuroscience-informed design to hands-on creation of learner-centered experiences, this institute offers both vision and actionable strategies for building environments where students—and educators—can thrive.
Learning Objectives – Participants will leave prepared to:
- Analyze the role of relationships in student development by examining research-based practices for building trust, maintaining healthy boundaries, and functioning effectively as a “trusted adult” within a broader support network.
- Apply a shared framework for expressing care by identifying and practicing the four domains—encouragement, accountability, affirmation, and advisement—to strengthen student engagement and school culture.
- Design learning experiences that foster student agency by shifting from adult-directed instruction to structures that promote autonomy, self-reflection, and ownership of learning.
- Integrate human-centered learning principles into practice by leveraging connection, collaboration, and real-world relevance to create more engaging, inclusive, and meaningful learning environments.