Events
The CRC hosts public events, symposia, dialogues, and training opportunities that bring people together around urgent questions facing West Virginia and beyond. Join the conversations, relationships, and shared learning that shape our work.
West Virginia Youth Resilience Leadership Summit: Vibrant Transformations 2026
The WV Youth Resilience Leadership Summit is a special opportunity for high school students (14-17 years old) from across West Virginia to come together at West Virginia University for an inspiring experience for cultivating resilience, learning, creativity, and connection. Hosted by the WVU Center for Resilient Communities, this summit is designed for young people who want to find their calling, learn more about their communities, and are ready to explore what leadership can look like in their own lives.
The
WVU Center for Resilient Communities (CRC) at West Virginia University
is a research and education center based in the
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences where young people learn to lead
by working on real projects that strengthen communities. Our programs focus
on
developing capacities for
research, leadership,
teamwork, while
building confidence in students to discover their talents and
serve humanity.
Our summit is a chance to step onto a college campus, meet other motivated young people in a safe environment, connect with mentors and community leaders, and take part in hands-on activities that help young people imagine how their interests and ideas can contribute to meaningful change in their home communities.
At the heart of the summit is one big idea: young people have the power to transform themselves, their schools, and their communities.
July 24–26 · West Virginia University, Morgantown
Youth Summit Schedule 2026
Pre-Summit Activities & Required Forms
Each participant completes four short pre-summit activities and submits three required forms before the summit begins. The pre-work takes less than an hour total and is used during the summit to connect youth to their peers and home communities.
Required Forms
Required for all youth. Submit digitally in the "add files" section of the registration form, or print and hand them to the program coordinator on arrival.
Frequently Asked Questions
This year's theme - "Vibrant transformations" describes positive changes in ourselves and our communities that bring more life, more hope, and more possibility into the world around us.
Our summit is about both personal and community transformation. It is about helping young people grow in confidence, purpose, and leadership. And it is about helping them imagine how they can take part in building stronger, healthier, more creative, more connected and more resilient communities.
Whether a student is passionate about the environment, food, art, business, health, education, community service, or simply wants to explore what matters to them, this summit offers them a place to learn, reflect, and dream.
One of the most exciting parts of the summit is the opportunity to spend time at WVU. For many students, being on a university campus opens new possibilities and helps them picture themselves in college, meeting new people, exploring new interests, and developing the skills to pursue a meaningful future.
Students will be welcomed into a learning environment that is interactive, encouraging, and grounded in the idea that their experiences, questions, and ideas matter.
Youth will be staying at Oakland Hall on WVU's Evansdale Campus. Rooms are double occupancy. Roommates will be assigned based on preferences communicated at registration. Youth will be guided to safely explore WVU's Evansdale Campus, including locations like the Media Innovation Center, Towers (Location of Cafe Evansdale), and the Erikson Alumni Center, as well as WVU's Downtown Campus and surrounding locations, including Brooks Hall and Morgantown Art Party.
Yes! Each participant will complete four required pre-summit activities. These are short, fun activities that will take less than an hour to complete. Activities include reading short stories, selecting songs and photos, and drawing a map. We will use these during the summit to connect to peers and our home communities.
You will receive a reminder via email newsletter each week with links to instructions, or see the links below.
Submit Responses Here
Yes! They are required for all youth participating in the summit. You may complete the required forms digitally by downloading the PDF and submitting the file in the "add files" section of the registration form, or you may print out the forms and physically hand them to the program coordinator on the day of the summit.
Access the required forms here
Yes! Program coordinator Chrysanthe Kallimanis is taking note of all accommodations your child may need, and will reach out to you prior to the summit to confirm the necessary accommodations. This includes, audio/visual, food allergies and restrictions, required medications for the duration or the summit, physical and mental limitations, and others. If you have a question or concern, or know your child may need an accommodation, email Chrysanthe Kallimanis at cek00039@mix.wvu.edu.
Yes! Parents and guardians can come Sunday afternoon, prior to departing with their child, to see a poster gallery of all project plans each youth developed Sunday, July 26th. Here, you will get an opportunity to see a bit of what your child has learned throughout the summit, and their ideas for a project they would like to take back to their community. There will also be lunch provided by the catering at the Alumni Center, so feel free to have a bite to eat and look at these amazing projects!
Your child should arrive between 10am - 12pm for check in on Friday, July 24th. The departure time will be on Sunday, July 26th at 3pm.
CRC Symposium — Let's Grow Together
The 2026 CRC Symposium "Let's Grow Together" brings students, scholars, and community partners into a shared space to celebrate the transformative power of community engaged research. Each year, the symposium highlights long-term project partnerships that have grown through university–community collaboration and creates opportunities for new conversations, friendships and ideas to take root. In doing so, the togetherness at the symposium reminds us that resilient communities are cultivated through meaningful relationships, shared knowledge, and collective action.
The Resilient Communities Engaged Research Dialogues Series
The Resilient Communities Engaged Research Dialogues Series welcomes community-engaged scholars to share insights on their approaches, orientations, and efforts to generate knowledge and contribute to social transformation. We elevate conversations on key concepts and methodologies used by community engaged scholars while fostering an uplifting atmosphere.
All dialogues will take place online. Viewers and listeners can tune in via Zoom or in-person at the CRC in Brooks Hall. Zoom details will be provided to registered participants.
Advance registration is required. You can register here.
About the Series
Community-engaged scholars are invited to share insights on their approaches, orientations, and efforts to generate knowledge and contribute to social transformation.
We elevate conversations on key concepts and methodologies used by community engaged scholars while fostering an uplifting atmosphere.
Geographies of Possibility:
Engaged Research, Pedagogies and Partnerships in Hard Times
Early Career Scholar Convergence
We are living through what many simply call hard times. Across regions and institutions, people are confronting overlapping economic, ecological, and political crises that strain livelihoods and unsettle long-standing assumptions about the future. Yet hard times are also moments of conjuncture when communities organize, experiment, and build new forms of solidarity.
For scholars committed to community-engaged research, the question is not only how to analyze these transformations, but how to accompany communities in the collective work of imagining and creating more just and resilient futures.
Rajesh Tandon
A world-renowned leader in participatory research and community-engaged scholarship, Rajesh Tandon brings decades of experience advancing socially responsible higher education and grassroots knowledge co-creation.
Conference Details