We’re proud to announce the launch of an updated program for the upcoming 2026-2027 school year! Students and teacher leaders alike may know about our ambassadors program. This year, we’re modifying that program and calling it the Educators Rising Influencers Program.

Educators Rising is seeking students interested in helping us promote the mission of the organization through a series of responsibilities designed to expand each influencer’s communication skills, awareness of the organization, and preparation for a future career in education. As an influencer, you will work closely with Educators Rising national staff and its national student leadership team to advance and expand Educators Rising’s impact. We see influencers as leaders and our influencer team will collaborate throughout the school year with our team of national officers.

What is an influencer?

Influencers are national leader positions with a core set of responsibilities:

• Regional online engagement. They will create and contribute ongoing content to be shared across social and online channels in collaboration with the organization’s national officer team, focusing on amplifying regional stories and news;
• Conference media creation. They will attend the National Conference and generate media content documenting the event to be shared via socials, the Rising Voices blog, and Conference Daily blog;
• Conference experience design and promotion. They will serve alongside our national officers on the Educators Rising’s Conference Team for the selection of contributed national conference sessions; they will also collaborate with the national officers on National Conference identity in collaboration with the Educators Rising Conference Team.

For the 2026-2027 school year, we have four openings for Educators Rising Influencers. We expect this will be a competitive role that many students will be interested in. Influencers should be media savvy and have creative communication skills that they want to amplify by helping to promote our organization at the regional and national level.

What are the benefits in becoming an influencer?

An Educators Rising Influencer is a student leadership position with the Educators Rising Career and Technical Student Organization. Students are chosen based on a strong set of skills and proven performance in academic and extra-curricular activities. Student influencers are chosen from a wide pool of candidates, and therefore represent by design students who exhibit values of excellence and service.

Educators Rising is committed to growing each influencer’s abilities around professional practice, written and oral communications, digital literacy and media production, and use of online media to reach a growing and diverse audience that includes policy makers, students, educators, and civic leaders. We are committed to assessing the influencer experience and using student-input and feedback to improve and expand the program.

Influencers will:

• Receive free conference registration and hotel accommodation at the Educators Rising National Conference in Columbus,
• Receive a $500 travel scholarship for transportation to and from the conference,
• Receive an Educators Rising t-shirt,
• Work closely with our Student Voice Coordinator, who has served as an Educators Rising Ambassador,
• Gain experience that will set them apart as a leader in a national organization with over 20,000 student members.

Ideal influencers are:

• Very active on social media,
• Engaged with their audience regularly,
• Posting appropriate and grammatically correct content,
• Invested in having an impact as a future educator.

What are the requirements for becoming an influencer?

• You will engage in regular posting of online content via social channels and our website;
• You will create, edit, and publish content at the National Conference,
• You will contribute to the promotion of, and design of, the 2027 National Conference by reviewing concurrent session proposals, helping to design the conference logo and merch.

Influencers should expect:

• To work 3 hours per week between content creation, meetings, and cooperation with state leaders and national officers,
• Regularly check email and messages throughout the school year with 24 hour response times,
• To set a conference schedule that’s open to on-site work to document the event in cooperation with the Educators Rising national staff,
• To get feedback and coaching on their work from the organization’s media team.

Questions and Answers about this new program

• Is there an age restriction? You must either be 18 years of age before the 2027 national conference in Columbus OR secure permission from your parents/guardian and travel with a chaperone and/or teacher leader as part of your school’s participation in the national conference.
• Do I need a recommendation? No. However you will need to secure a statement of understanding from your teacher leader or faculty advisor and your state’s SRC.
• Does this replace the Ambassador program? And what about the conference influencers program from the 2025-2026 school year? Yes. This combines the functions of those two programs into this new program.
• What if I don’t have time to commit to the program? Students should understand that there is a significant time commitment. Educators Rising reserves the right to replace students who cannot commit to the regular meetings and deadlines.

This program is operated by our national communications team, led by Dr. John Hendron, Educators Rising’s Principal Story Architect (email). You will work closely with our Student Voice Coordinator, Mr. Calvin Plante (email) and our Kappan magazine editor, Ms. Kathleen Vail (email). 

Questions about the program? 

Reach out to us! 

The application window for this program will go live on Wednesday, August 26th through October 1st.