Across the country, classrooms are stirring back to life. Students find their way to new seats—some alongside old friends, others beside someone they’ve just met. Beneath the buzz is a quiet question: What will we learn together?
This is the promise of a new school year. A roomful of people—students and teachers—who do not yet know the ways they will shape one another. The moment holds joy, curiosity, and possibility.
For the 2025/2026 academic year, we are calling for everyone in our learning community to embrace belonging. Our work with educators has shown us that when students feel a sense of belonging, they are better prepared to stand up to injustice and build more compassionate communities. Centering inclusion requires care and intention, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. When students walk through school doors, they bring layered experiences and unique personalities. By creating environments where differences are celebrated and every voice matters, we’re not just teaching lessons—we’re cultivating the hope that young people can and will make meaningful change.
Belonging is also a developmental need. For middle and high school students especially, finding their place in a new social landscape is critical. Research tells us that belonging is deeply tied to the school experience, and that teachers have immense power to ensure students feel included. For 50 years, Facing History’s pedagogy has been proven to do just that—increasing participation, reducing bullying, encouraging curiosity, and helping students connect with one another across lines of difference.
Yet this new season also brings tangible challenges. Some educators are navigating scrutiny of what they teach and how they teach it. Curriculum choices face mounting pressure in a polarized climate. These debates can overshadow the daily work of building trust and community.
Some students carry deep fears about whether school is a safe place for them and their families. Uncertainty about whom to trust or how to navigate new systems can make the first days even harder. For other students, threats to self-expression and identity can make it feel risky to show up as themselves. And, for many, the echoes of rising acts of hate across the globe reverberate into our schools, shaping how young people see the world and their place in it.
And somehow still, amidst it all, there is also hope. We see it in committed educators who show up each day. We see it in students who lean into hard conversations with curiosity and empathy. Every time young people practice questioning and grapple with complexity, they remind us that hope is not abstract—it is alive in our classrooms.
In a world marked by division, schools remain one of the few places where people from many backgrounds come together daily and create shared experiences. Facing History has helped educators and students confront the hardest parts of history with honesty and courage for nearly half a century. That legacy grounds us now as we look to the next 50 years—and to the world our young people will build.
Hope, after all, is not wishful thinking. The ability to use hope and imagine a better world is necessary for envisioning—and then actually creating—impactful change. Hope grows when a teacher listens deeply to a student’s story. When a text opens new perspectives. When students realize they have both the responsibility and the agency to participate in their school, community, and government.
This year, let’s choose hope together—and pass it on to the young people with intention. Together we can ensure every student feels safe, valued, and empowered to shape a more compassionate and just future. Here’s to a year of belonging, of honest learning, and of bold hope.
