{"id":82131,"date":"2026-03-11T16:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casel.org\/?post_type=blogposts&#038;p=82131"},"modified":"2026-03-11T16:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:56:18","slug":"national-sel-week-2026-students-speak-up","status":"publish","type":"blogposts","link":"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/national-sel-week-2026-students-speak-up\/","title":{"rendered":"National SEL Week 2026: Students Speak Up!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>National SEL Week<\/strong> is a \u201cSEL\u201debration of social and emotional learning in every community in the United States\u2014and this year, we were thrilled to welcome students from <strong>Fairfax County\u2019s (Va.) Justice High School <\/strong>into the conversation. They joined us on Capitol Hill to talk to legislative staff about the importance of social and emotional learning for youth, as their principal, Sean Rolon, explains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe title=\"Fairfax County Public Schools Principal Sean R. for National SEL Week 2026\" width=\"422\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MiD4fxdrBMw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As members of the Justice High School\u2019s Student SEL Advisory Committee, they spoke eloquently about why social and emotional learning is so important to youth and how it helps them develop <strong>Skills for Community, Skills for Career<\/strong>, the theme of this year\u2019s National SEL Week<strong>. <\/strong>Here\u2019s what they had to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"hiwot-m-on-how-social-and-emotional-learning-appears-in-her-school\"><strong>Hiwot M. on how social and emotional learning appears in her school<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe title=\"Hiwot M. for National SEL Week 2026\" width=\"422\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wuKIza81pJ0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"kate-s-on-how-social-and-emotional-learning-will-support-her-future-career\"><strong>Kate S. on how social and emotional learning will support her future career<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe title=\"Fairfax County Public Schools high school student Kate S. for National SEL Week 2026\" width=\"422\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/avrWPDClCYw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"edgardo-s-on-how-social-and-emotional-learning-supports-the-skills-students-will-need-at-work-and-in-school\"><strong>Edgardo S. on how social and emotional learning supports the skills students will need at work and in school<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe title=\"Fairfax County Public Schools high school student Edgardo S. for National SEL Week 2026\" width=\"422\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pQGa_rX-01g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"shelly-m-on-how-she-uses-social-and-emotional-learning-for-self-regulation\"><strong>Shelly M. on how she uses social and emotional learning for self-regulation<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe title=\"Fairfax County Public Schools high school student Shelly M for National SEL Week 2026\" width=\"422\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G7IGXYhFhUc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"madai-s-on-how-social-and-emotional-learning-helped-her-when-she-moved-to-the-united-states\"><strong>Madai S. on how social and emotional learning helped her when she moved to the United States<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe title=\"Fairfax County Public Schools high school student Madai M. for National SEL Week 2026\" width=\"422\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IIxSKtGFX2Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The views in these videos are those of the students and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.<\/em><em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related Posts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/looking-back-on-national-sel-week-2026-skills-for-community-skills-for-career\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Looking Back on National SEL Week 2026: Skills for Community, Skills for Career<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/national-sel-week-2026-capitol-hill-briefing-sel-future-readiness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National SEL Week 2026: A Capitol Hill Briefing on SEL &amp; Future Readiness<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/roundup-6-blogs-showcasing-student-voice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Roundup: 6 Blogs Showcasing Student Voice<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"write-for-us\"><strong>Write for Us<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you interested in writing for CASEL\u2019s blog, <em>Constellations<\/em>? <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1zSZFveKA8xsmlCADpfDP8t-y9emN0qswHQh1MnfmqBI\/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Learn more<\/a> about what we\u2019re looking for and how to pitch your idea!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National SEL Week is a \u201cSEL\u201debration of social and emotional learning in every community in the United States\u2014and this year, we were thrilled to welcome students from Fairfax County\u2019s (Va.) Justice High School into the conversation. They joined us on Capitol Hill to talk to legislative staff about the importance of social and emotional learning [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":82133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","theme":[203,199,200],"class_list":["post-82131","blogposts","type-blogposts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","theme-water-cooler","theme-spotlights","theme-viewpoints"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts\/82131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blogposts"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme?post=82131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}