NESSIC Student Leadership Symposium — Shanghai
Social Innovation
What Have You Set in Motion?
Hiba Academy Shanghai
Saturday, March 6, 2027
About the Symposium
The NESSC Student Leadership Symposium on Social Innovation brings together student teams who are using service, creativity, and community insight to make a difference in their schools and local communities.
This one-day, in-person Symposium is designed for school teams of up to 10 students and 1 to 2 faculty advisers. Students will not only attend sessions. They will help shape the learning before the event, share their own work during the Symposium, and present what they learned afterwards.
At a time when schools are helping students move beyond participation toward purposeful action, this Symposium asks a simple question:
What have you set in motion?
From Service to Social Innovation
Students will explore how meaningful service begins with listening, develops through action, and improves through reflection and revision.
The Symposium will culminate with the Innovative Service Video Contest, where students create 60-second videos that tell the story of a service project they have launched or improved.
Strong videos will show how students have:
Identified a real need by speaking with those affected
Designed a project that responds to that need
Improved the project based on what worked and what did not
Shown how the benefits can continue beyond the first action
The Symposium will also help students understand what does not usually count as social innovation: solutions imposed from outside a community, projects that repeat existing ideas without improvement, service that offers only a short-term fix, or videos that do not show how students learned and adapted.
Intended Outcomes
By the end of the Symposium, participating teams will:
Identify genuine community needs by listening to the people most affected
Design or refine a service project that responds meaningfully to an identified need
Use reflection and evidence to improve a project and strengthen its long-term impact
Distinguish social innovation from short-term service or solutions imposed on a community
Communicate the story, learning and future direction of a student-led service project
Symposium Moderator
Rushton Hurley
Rushton Hurley has worked and studied on three continents as a Japanese language teacher, school principal, teacher trainer, and inspirational speaker. He founded and directs the educational nonprofit Next Vista for Learning, which houses a free library of creative educational videos at NextVista.org. Rushton holds masters degrees in Education and East Asian Studies from Stanford University.
The author of three books, Rushton's work centers on inspiration and creativity, technology and leadership, avenues for engaging learning, the power of digital media and cutting-edge technology for collaboration, and personal and professional perspectives in a technology-infused, ever-changing world. He also works with WarmDemanders.com to provide focused, self-paced mini-courses for professional development, including a course for educators on ChatGPT for which several thousand people around the world have registered.
In the spring of 2023, Rushton joined the team at Junípero Serra High School as the Director of Design-Led Innovation. In that role, he co-teaches the Creative Solutions for the Global Good class and coordinates international projects between Serra and other fascinating schools around the world.
Rushton loves to travel, cleans up after his cats, and considers himself to have married up.
The Symposium Journey
Each Symposium is more than a single day. Participating teams will move through three connected stages.
Before the Symposium
Participating teams will join two online sessions.
These sessions will introduce the Symposium theme, share examples of student leadership, and invite students to discuss opportunities and challenges in their own schools. Their conversations and insights will help shape the conference content.
During the Symposium
Students and faculty advisers will take part in three joint sessions and four separate sessions.
The morning will feature keynote and sponsor-led learning, depending on the Symposium theme. The afternoon will feature student presenters, school team discussions, sharing and practical planning.
Faculty sessions will explore how schools can create the structures, opportunities and support that student leaders need.
Lunch and refreshment breaks will be provided.
After the Symposium
Each team will create a short video sharing what they learned and how they plan to apply it in their school.
Teams will then join an online showcase session to share their learning with the wider NESSIC community.
What Students Will Experience
Across the series, students will:
Explore leadership in a context relevant to their interests
Connect with student leaders from other NESSIC schools
Share opportunities and challenges from their own schools
Learn from speakers, sponsors, peers and faculty advisers
Develop practical ideas for action
Reflect on what they have learned
Share their learning through a post-conference video and online showcase
Learning for Faculty Advisers
Students and faculty advisers will learn together and separately throughout the programme.
Dedicated faculty sessions will help advisers explore how schools can:
Create meaningful student leadership opportunities
Support student-led action and decision-making
Strengthen reflection, coaching and peer support
Build sustainable structures for student leadership
Help students apply their learning after the Symposium
Participation and Registration
Each school may bring up to:
10 students + 1-2 faculty advisers
At this stage, only the school team coordinator’s information is required. Student names and individual details do not need to be submitted during the initial registration.
By the end of October 2026, coordinators must complete a separate participant form with the details of their participating students. This form will also ask about dietary requirements and which hotel the team is staying at.
Learn with Peers at
Hiba Academy Shanghai
No. 235, Lin Yao Road, Shanghai 200126
Stella Zhou
Master
