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THE PROMISE OF THE SIX YOUTH SUMMIT
Inside the Promise Pavilion — Independence Center B Military Child World Expo 2026 | Torchbearers of America’s Future
Where Identity Becomes Leadership
Purpose
The Promise of the Six™ Youth Summit brings together middle school, high school, and college-aged military-connected youth to name their realities, build skills, forge belonging, and shape the national conversation on what it means to grow up as a military child in America today, and across generations.
The Promise of the Six™ Youth Summit is also the cultural and leadership core of the Expo, a space where youth step forward as carriers of legacy, memory, innovation, and belonging.
[ Register Your School / Organization Delegates ]
[ Individual Youth Registration ]
The Promise of the Six - Youth Summit
Where young people gather to claim identity, belonging, and the future we carry together.
The Promise of the Six™ Youth Summit brings together military-connected and civilian youth, ages 12–22, for a day of creativity, reflection, conversation, and community-building.
This is not a conference.
Not a lecture.
Not a training.
This is a cultural gathering, where young people speak for themselves, learn from one another, and shape the world they are stepping into.
What Makes This Summit Unique
Military-connected youth live rich, complex, global lives shaped by movement, transition, care, and multiple cultural worlds.
Civilian youth, too, carry identities formed by:
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Community place
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Culture
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Family responsibility
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Change
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Dreams for the future
The Summit creates a space where all of this belongs. No one is asked to blend in.
Everyone is invited to be seen.
Why This Summit Exists
Military teens repeatedly report that they feel unseen, unheard, and misunderstood in both military and civilian spaces.
The 2022 Military Teen Experience Survey found:
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63% of military teens reported only moderate mental well-being, while 28% reported low mental well-being.
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37% of teens said they had thoughts of harming themselves or others.
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46% of military teens reported food insecurity affecting their household.
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Frequent school moves and long parental separations were directly linked to lower well-being.
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44% plan to serve in the future, but many feel pressure, not support, in that decision.
The Summit is designed to respond directly to these realities.
The Six Promises
These promises become:
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Badge colors
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Wristbands
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Dialogue prompts
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Stage language
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Visual identity
This is the culture of the Summit
The Promise of the Six
These are the shared values that guide the Summit:
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We belong to more than one place.
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We carry memory and movement within us.
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We love beyond distance and time.
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We adapt, not to disappear, but to stay whole.
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We build community wherever we land.
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We rise, not alone, but together.
Who Should Attend
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Military-connected youth (all branches & generations)
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Civilian youth who have experienced transition, identity questions, or caregiving
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Youth creators, performers, entrepreneurs
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Students from Purple Star Schools, DoDEA schools, public, private, charter, homeschool
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Overseas installation youth
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Young adults who once were military children
Belonging does not require explanation.
If you feel called to be here, you are already part of this.
Who Should Attend
[ Register a Delegate Group]
[ Register as an Individual Youth ]
Workshops & Dialogue Labs
Workshops respond to what youth themselves have identified as real needs:
Track: Roots & Routes
Focus: Identity, culture, belonging in movement
Why It Matters: Youth report high identity friction during transitions
Track: The Weight We Carry
Focus: Caregiving + emotional labor
Why It Matters: Military teens report a high hidden caregiver role
Track: How We Stay Well
Focus: Mental + emotional grounding tools
Why It Matters: Surveys show declining self-reported well-being
Track: The Real Cost of Resilience
Focus: Economic + food + basic need strain
Why It Matters: Food insecurity + instability are rising
Track: Future After Here
Focus: Pathways, purpose, transitions
Why It Matters: Youth want help planning beyond constant change
Connect here to the workshops.
Youth Readiness
At the heart of the Pavilion is the Torchbearers Youth Readiness Summit, a dynamic 1-day series of leadership workshops, future-ready labs, and identity-building sessions for middle and high school youth from military, veteran, civilian, and diplomatic families.
The Summit will spotlight:
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Teen mental health & wellness
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Global mobility and cultural identity
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Innovation, career readiness & service leadership
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Teen caregivers and hidden helpers
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Pathways to civic engagement