Boise High School students are pledging to make change in the community.

“You can make a change at any moment in your life,” said Kayshauna Freeman, an organizer of the summit. “It’s important to realize you can make a simple change every day.”

In an effort to understand a variety of topics related to being and making change in the community, students held a Be The Change Summit on campus Wednesday. The summit was full of interactive, student-led workshops, presentations and keynote speaker Asmaa Albukaie who spoke about her experience as a Syrian refugee and how she became involved in community advocacy.

“This is the one day out of the year that we get to come together and express our opinion and make a change,” said Tenje Zimmerer, a Boise High sophomore. “The summit is enlightening and interesting.”

The summit featured hands-on workshops where students learned self-defense, CPR, meditation, addiction and equality.

“Making change can be as simple as learning to use self-defense or understanding different cultures,” Freeman said.

Students gave nearly 60 presentations on topics such as food consumption, social change, ocean acidification, human rights and guide dogs.

Nearly 30 students organized the summit and the entire Boise High community from students, staff and district employees participated.

This is the third summit Boise High students have hosted. The first summit in 2015 explored food in the fall and wellness in the spring. In 2016, The Sustainability Summit looked at how students can be sustainable in a variety of ways.