- Student Leadership
This year’s ACAMIS Student Leadership Conference focused on the theme “Social Innovation: A Change-Making Approach,” a framework that challenges students to move beyond ideas and into meaningful action.
As defined by ACAMIS, social innovation at the conference is “about making a meaningful difference in the world by designing and taking action on ideas that improve lives and strengthen communities” – not through profit-driven business models, but through innovative service aimed at real-world environmental, social, and community challenges.
For student leaders from Hangzhou International School (HIS), that challenge took them 200 kilometers north to UWC Changshu.
They arrived not with blank slates, but with projects already in motion – an essential expectation of the conference, which is designed to refine, deepen, and strengthen student-led initiatives rather than invent them from scratch.
Via a stringent selection process, HIS had identified the two projects and teams for their commitment and contributions as student leaders at our school.
Learning Through Purpose and Collaboration
Throughout the day, student leaders engaged in collaborative workshops, peer feedback sessions, and structured questioning designed to sharpen both their ideas and their leadership skills.
For Derek (Grade 11), a leader of the LongYin Club Project, the experience was transformative. Representing HIS’s Chinese culture club, he found himself in conversation with student leaders from across the country.
“I had the chance to meet with fellow leaders of clubs and programs from other leading international schools in China and exchange information with them about our projects,” he reflected.
“I received valuable feedback on potential ways to improve the operating framework of the club, and from other people’s stories I learned lessons on how to improve our effective leadership and budget management.”
The conference encouraged students not only to present their work, but to listen – to interrogate assumptions, reflect on feedback, and rethink next steps.
Derek left UWC Changshu with a renewed sense of purpose: applying what he learned to strengthen the LongYin Club’s role in promoting Chinese culture and celebrating diversity within the HIS community.
HIS teammate Preston (Grade 11) echoed this sentiment of shared mission. “By talking with fellow student leaders from other schools, I discovered that many people share the same belief as us. Leading students benefits the community in their own way,” he said.
Inspired by peers who had already scaled projects beyond their own schools, Preston left considering how the club’s reach might one day become regional – or even international.
For Simone (Grade 11), the power of the conference lay in its honesty. “We discovered many common issues that student leaders like us encounter, as well as possible solutions to address them,” he explained.
“It gave us the opportunity to learn how leadership is practiced in other communities and to hear about the challenges they face.”
From Vision to Clarity
HIS’ other student team, working on the Horizon Aerospace Project, arrived with ambition – and questions. The conference helped transform uncertainty into direction.
“Previously we had a goal in mind, but were unsure of how to achieve it,” said Tiger (Grade 10). “The other students provided lots of feedback… guiding us into creating criteria for our project, aiding us to follow our passion and vision, and we were able to do the same for them.”
Joshua (Grade 11) described the experience as eye-opening. “I was able to grasp the diversification of creative ideas,” he said. “We helped others, who in turn also guided us through asking about our future intentions, our passion, and our vision.”
For William (Grade 9), the takeaway was deeply personal. “Throughout the conference, I received lots of valuable advice and encouragement,” he shared.
“By combining all the knowledge we gained, our team has been able to start and improve on the future goal.”
The Power of Questioning
Faculty facilitators observed that the most powerful learning moments came not from answers, but from questions.
Ms Chelsea Wood, HIS event co-facilitator, highlighted the importance of connecting student initiatives to global frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“There’s something really special about student-led social innovation,” she noted. “This link builds real skills in empathy, collaboration, and seeing the big picture… helping students realize they can actually make a difference.”
Fellow HIS event co-facilitator Mr Austin Coolidge emphasized how the conference deliberately shifts students from being responders to critical thinkers.
“The most crucial – and challenging – skill is the ability to ask meaningful, direct, and poignant questions that lead to actionable change,” he said.
“This conference structures interactions to provoke critical evaluation and constructive questioning of peer projects.”
Looking Ahead
The impact of the conference did not end when the teams returned home to Hangzhou.
Select projects from the 2026 conference will be showcased internationally, including a student innovation showcase in Silicon Valley in April 2026, offering participants the chance to share their work on a global stage.
More importantly, the HIS student leaders returned to HIS with clarity, confidence, and a renewed belief in their ability to lead change – one thoughtful question, one refined idea, and one meaningful action at a time.