From April 7-11, 2026, seniors Cora Barcelona, Abigail Peck and Maya Trempe, alongside Associate Principal of Lakewood High School Bridgette Firstenberger and Cleveland State Professor Dr. Adam Voight, who runs the First Ring Student Leadership Institute, attended the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual conference in Los Angeles, California.

​The AERA is a national research society that strives to advance knowledge, encourage inquiry and promote the use of research to better communities. Its annual meeting is one of the largest and most important gatherings focused on education research.

​The conference ran from April 8 to 12 and had over 13,000 attendees from around the world. It featured a wide range of studies across multiple areas of education. The 2026 theme, “Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: Constructing a New Vision for Educational Research,” challenged participants to reflect on the past while considering the future of education.

​\With over 2,500 sessions to choose from, attendees had a wide range of topics to explore. Discussions included the role of artificial intelligence in education, examining how AI is reshaping literacy, assessments and teaching.

Other sessions, such as Musical Reflections on Research, connected song lyrics to career milestones and educational philosophies, while the Research and Science Policy Forum brought together federal agency representatives to discuss how large-scale data systems can advance research.

​\To modernize the conference experience, AERA incorporated multiple presentation formats. These included the i-presentation gallery, a digital platform that allowed virtual presenters to interact with attendees through live video chats and digital posters, as well as early career spotlight sessions tied to the conference’s forward-looking theme.

“We would be sitting around round tables discussing our research with professors and doctors from Columbia and Harvard, which was crazy to think about what a crazy opportunity it was,” said Trempe.

​Barcelona, Peck, and Trempe are members of the First Ring Student Leadership Institute (FRSLI), a program for high school students in 16 districts surrounding Cleveland. Through the program, students identify issues within their schools, conduct research and advocate for solutions.

Barcelona, Peck and Trempe’s focused their research on the student-teacher pipeline, specifically why students in Ohio are not pursuing careers in education. They distributed surveys across public schools in the state, resulting in a sample size of approximately 1,300 respondents—significantly larger than many other groups, which averaged around 30 participants.

“The question goes so much further than just money. We also found that past student/teacher relationships can have an impact, like if students had good relationships with teachers, they are more likely to follow the path … Another interesting thing we found is that students who value good job benefits are less likely to become teachers,” said Peck.

​The students participated through AERA’s Research Engagement and Development with Youth (READY) program, which allows high school students to present research alongside PhDs and professors while promoting youth voices and mentorship. Their project was one of six from First Ring selected to attend the conference.

​At AERA, Barcelona, Peck and Trempe presented their research to more than 100 attendees through multiple formats, including an interactive poster session.

Firstenberger said, “The big thing was their interactive poster session, where they were actually able to speak with conference attendees about their research project … It was a great group of students who went, and they truly did a really nice job.”

​Throughout the conference, the students demonstrated key elements of Lakewood High School’s Vision of a Lakewood Ranger, including communication and collaboration.

Firstenberger said, “Throughout the entire trip, they were exhibiting these competencies without even realizing it … If we talk about communication and collaboration, these students were talking and working with other students from across the country.”

​By completing years of research and presenting their findings on a national stage, Barcelona, Peck and Trempe contributed to a broader conversation about education while working to create meaningful change in their community.