HHYRA 2025
Session, and lived experience, young people showed that they are not just preparing for the future—they are reshaping the present.
This year’s Rutgers University, NJ, event, Hip Hop Youth Research and Activism 2025, was a powerful display of youth’s resiliency, cultural heritage, and unwavering commitment to educational justice. Students from across the country convened for a charged day of panel discussions, performances, workshops, and art deeply rooted in hip-hop’s empowering ethos.
Panel Discussions: Reclaiming Education
Speakers on the first panel broke with assumptions about education. Like students, speakers stressed the importance of people-based pedagogy and critical thinking. A key insight was that education exists outside classroom walls; it’s taught in neighborhoods, families, and social movements. Panelists communicated that although the terms equity and activism might appear daunting or heavy, the onus is on students to unpack and reimagine them.
Just because you don’t teach it in school doesn’t mean you’re not learning.
Students had a reflective conversation about discouraging inquiry within the schools, analyzing why there has always been neglect toward respecting experiential knowledge and elder wisdom.
Workshops:
The workshops held that day were immersive and intensely personal experiences.
The visual art session, Run by Isaiah Hayana, a New York Visual artist, expresses both traditional art and digital mediums. For him, art is deeply rooted in the concept of sonder-realization that each person we encounter has a life as livid and complex as our own. He explained how we all have different stories and how that makes us unique. For the interactive part of this workshop, all the participants drew about themselves, where they were from, their hobbies, what they like, and what makes them, them. We took a step back and saw how everyone had unique experiences that shaped them just like you.
An improv workshop was run by our very own students from the school, Kaleb Hadley, Adrian Andrade and, In this workshop we participated in activities like improvisation with situations and emotions, one, based on eye contact, where we had to look the person in the eye and then pass a ball to them, a bunch of times in a circle, and group storytelling, each person said a word with the first letter of the alphabet, and the next person had to say a word in the next, and be able to create a story that made sense. Light-hearted yet profound, there was just one common rule: “Make the other person look good.” This reinforced trust, empathy, and creative risk-taking.
Panel Discussions: Reclaiming Education
Speakers on the first panel broke with assumptions about education. Like students, speakers stressed the importance of people-based pedagogy and critical thinking. A key insight was that education exists outside classroom walls; it’s taught in neighborhoods, families, and social movements. Panelists communicated that although the terms equity and activism might appear daunting or heavy, the onus is on students to unpack and reimagine them.
Just because you don’t teach it in school doesn’t mean you’re not learning.
Students had a reflective conversation about discouraging inquiry within the schools, analyzing why there has always been neglect toward respecting experiential knowledge and elder wisdom.
Workshops: Creative Expression, Spontaneity, and Vocal Techniques
The workshops held that day were immersive and intensely personal experiences.
The visual art session, Run by Isaiah Hayana, a New York Visual artist, expresses both traditional art and digital mediums. For him, art is deeply rooted in the concept of sonder – The realization that each person we encounter has a life as livid and complex as our own. He explained how we all have different stories and how that makes us unique. For the interactive part of this workshop, all the participants drew about themselves, where they were from, their hobbies, what they like, and what makes them, them. We took a step back and saw how everyone had unique experiences that shaped them just like you.
An improv workshop was run by our very own students from the school, in this workshop we crossed our comfort boundaries in activities like improvisation with situations and emotions, one, based on eye contact, where we had to look the person in the eye and then pass a ball to them, a bunch of times in a circle, and group storytelling, each person said a word with the first letter of the alphabet, and the next person had to say a word in the next, and be able to create a story that made sense. Light-hearted yet profound, there was just one common rule: “Make the other person look good.” This reinforced trust, empathy, and creative risk-taking.
Education Equity Panel: Speaking Truth to Power
Emma and Abigail moderated the Education Equity panel, the plight of underfunded schools, failures in special education, and the teacher shortage. The conversation also delved into gender inequities in college, including concerns about campus safety and safeguarding undocumented and immigrant students who face barriers in accessing FAFSA and scholarships.
Performances & Final Reflections: Hip Hop as Activism
Throughout the day, students performed spoken word and musical numbers that discussed themes of resistance, power, and identity. Among the highlights were compelling poems from Micheala, Abigail, Bothane, and Kaj, and Silent Night’s Ballot of the Wallet, a fascinating interactive hip-hop performance that discussed the disenfranchisement of youth and financial injustice
The last panel, TIME, featured youth leaders Roomi, Daniel, and Nexus. They discussed migration, youth structures, and the lasting effect of grass-roots organizing—ultimately transmitting a strong message to the audience:
You don’t need anyone’s permission to act; your voice is powerful in itself.
Briefly, a movement is taking shape.
HHYRA 2025 went beyond being just a conference; it became a lively, dynamic display of hip-hop pedagogy at work. The young people, with their fusion of consciousness, creativity, and lived experience, made it clear that they are not only looking toward the future—they are engaged in shaping the present.
Education Equity Panel: Speaking Truth to Power
Emma and Abigail moderated the Education Equity panel, the plight of underfunded schools, failures in special education, and the teacher shortage. The conversation also delved into gender inequities in college, including concerns about campus safety and safeguarding undocumented and immigrant students who face barriers in accessing FAFSA and scholarships.
Performances & Final Reflections: Hip Hop as Activism
Throughout the day, students performed spoken word and musical numbers that discussed themes of resistance, power, and identity. The last panel, TIME, featured youth leaders Roomi, Daniel, and Nexus. They discussed migration, youth structures, and the lasting effect of grass-roots organizing—ultimately transmitting a strong message to the audience:
You don’t need anyone’s permission to act; your voice is powerful in itself.
Briefly, a movement is taking shape.
HHYRA 2025 went beyond being just a conference; it became a lively, dynamic display of hip-hop pedagogy at work. The young people, with their fusion of consciousness, creativity, and lived experience, made it clear that they are not only looking toward the future—they are engaged in shaping the present.
