This is a guest post written by Neil Andruschak, Digital Learning Specialist at Little Falls Community Schools. Need a mini-grant to help purchase new materials or help fund a program? Apply now!

A group of central Minnesota educators (MidMN EDU) put together the 2nd annual Student Powered Conference – A MidMN EDU Event on the morning of February 6th at the Sartell Community Center.

Logan, a Little Falls Community High School student, gave the opening keynote presentation and he knocked everybody’s socks off with a great talk about “Connections” and how important student-adult connections can be at school and how those connections can change your life in positive and dramatic ways.

Following the keynote, there were 3 breakout sessions (with 4 rooms and poster sessions in the gym) for students to choose from. All main and poster sessions were led by student presenters.

To wrap up the morning, we had a get up and get moving activity that generated a lot of laughs and fun.

Last year was a great success with middle school students as our “beta testers” and this year we have opened the conference up for students grades 4-12. The range of presenters signed up was all the way from 4th through 12th grade. In addition, we had a number of students just attending. They were not required to present. We had a great turnout and are expecting even bigger numbers next year!

The requested grant funds covered Little Falls Community Schools transportation and our share of the building rental. Thank you for supporting unique, personalized learning opportunities for Central Minnesota students!