Silas is a two-spirit high school student. Xe is part of the Youth Development Instrument’s Youth Advisory Council and is an advocate for the safety of 2SLGBTQ+ youth in xyr school district. In xyr free time, xe is a playwright. 

For over 25 years, Nathan Ngieng has been an educator in the B.C. public education system and an advocate for the meaningful inclusion of student voice and agency in educational change initiatives. He is currently the Deputy Superintendent of Schools in the Abbotsford School District, where he leads and supports the strategic direction and planning for middle schools, focusing on equitable and inclusive school environments.

Dr. Hasina Samji is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, a Senior Scientist in Population Mental Wellbeing at the BC Centre for Disease Control, and the Director of the Capturing Health and Resilience Trajectories (chartlab.ca) lab.

She completed her PhD in infectious disease epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is an expert in youth mental health and well-being, intersectoral collaboration, linked datasets, and school health.

Dr. Samji leads the Youth Development Instrument (YDI), an interdisciplinary study measuring predictors of positive youth well-being, mental health, and development in high school students. Youth engagement and collaborative, intersectoral design are core to the YDI’s mission and success. In 2023, she became a US National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow.