The work is strategy. The foundation is people.
Wanakee Trask is an educator, consultant, and keynote speaker with more than a decade of experience across education, youth development, school and community partnerships, and stakeholder engagement.
Wanakee Trask is an educator, consultant, and keynote speaker with more than a decade of experience across education, youth development, school and community partnerships, and stakeholder engagement. She works with district and school leaders to strengthen school climate, student belonging, and the community partnerships that sustain student success.
Her work is anchored in a clear professional premise. School climate is not soft work. It is protective infrastructure. Attendance, behavior, staff morale, family engagement, and student safety move with the strength of the relationships beneath them. Wanakee helps schools translate that understanding into durable systems their teams can implement, monitor, and sustain.
- Founder and Executive Director, Elevate Greatness
- Founder, Don't Sleep On Chicago Kids
- Army National Guard Veteran
- Former Classroom Teacher and Basketball Coach
- Keynote Speaker and Panelist
Durable systems, not one-time events.
Wanakee partners with district and school leaders to treat school climate as measurable Tier 1 infrastructure, align systems of belonging with attendance, behavior, and engagement data, and build the relational conditions that drive student engagement and educator morale.
Her approach moves community engagement from episodic events toward accountable, sustainable networks of wraparound support. Initiatives move from compliance and documentation toward consistent, lived practice. Programs become repeatable and are no longer dependent on any single person.
Acknowledged across communities she serves.
- Chicago Peace Fellow, Goldin Institute
- Teach2Give Honoree, ChiGivesBack
- 2026 Blacktopia Gala Honoree, Association Chicago
- Black Educational Advocacy Coalition Conference Presenter
- Featured in The Regional News / Southwest Regional Publishing
- Keynote Speaker and Panelist
Book a consultation, or invite Wanakee to speak.
District-respected, substantive, and built to convert conversation into the next structured step.