When Rachel Alger, a local high school English teacher and past Ballard Brief author, reached out to the Ballard Center for Social Impact, current BYU humanities student and Ballard Brief editor-in-chief Ella Reynolds knew something exciting was in store. Alger invited the team’s editors to visit her classroom at Maple Mountain High School, where her students were set to present their own mini-issue reports inspired by the Ballard Brief model. This meeting created a unique opportunity for learning, feedback, and inspiration for both Alger’s students and the Ballard Brief editors.
What is a Ballard Brief?
The Ballard Brief is part of the research arm of the Ballard Center and acts as a nexus for reliable, vetted research on particular social issues. Written primarily by BYU undergraduate students, the social issue library is designed to make research about complex social issues accessible, with each brief outlining a social problem that affects a specific demographic in a particular geographical area.
Unlike traditional academic research, which can be difficult to find or locked behind paywalls, the Ballard Brief is entirely open to the public, functioning as a community resource that prioritizes a human-centered, non-biased approach. The writer focuses their research on the people who are experiencing the problem, and attempts to discover the consequences and contributing factors behind the social issue in order to help people solve it.
Describing their goal, Reynolds shared, “We’re trying to put more information into the world about the social issues, their root causes, who they’re impacting, and why.”
Because each brief serves as public service, the publication process is complex. Managing editor, Emma Cook explains, “The process to become published on Ballard Brief is a very scrutinizing one.” She continues, "We have about five to seven different editors go over each brief to make sure that the sources are credible, the research is coherent, and any logical gaps are entirely filled."
The core of this methodology is rooted in one of the Ballard Center’s foundational principles: learning to love the problem. Rather than rushing to create immediate solutions, it encourages student-researchers to slow down, set aside biases, and map out the roots, systemic causes, and consequences of an issue.
All Ballard Brief authors are enrolled in the Ballard Brief course and are taught to think critically about their issue by gathering and synthesizing data from various outlets. The process of writing a brief can be an empowering and transformative experience, so much so that Alger felt compelled to bring the Ballard Brief model into her own classroom.
Bringing Ballard Brief into the Classroom
Rachel Alger was familiar with the Ballard Brief long before she taught the structure to her students. During her undergraduate studies, she wrote a brief of her own and the experience left a lasting impression on her.
Years later, Alger decided to teach the framework of the Ballard Briefs to her students as part of their understanding research unit. Over the course of a seven-week period, students worked in teams to research a social issue of their choice, gather sources, evaluate information, and develop unbiased research reports that explored the causes and consequences of their chosen topic.
At the culmination of the unit, Alger invited members of the Ballard Brief team to visit her classroom to observe the presentations of the briefs firsthand. For the editors, it was a rare opportunity to see how readers and students engaged with the Ballard Brief model outside of a university setting. For the students, it was a chance to present their work to the very people who help produce the Ballard Briefs that inspired the assignment.
Learning Through Research
Listening to the presentations, the Ballard Brief editors noted how the students had developed research skills typically not encountered until much later in their education.
Rather than staying at the level of personal opinion or initial curiosity, students were pushed into a process of sourcing, compiling, and integrating information. This led to a non-partisan approach, enabling the students to have a clearer perspective when approaching complex topics.
Paige Smith, another student editor for the Ballard Brief team, reflected on her own experience writing a Ballard Brief and noted how much her understanding of her chosen social issue deepened throughout the research process. “There were things about the social issue I wrote about that I didn’t realize were even contributing factors or consequences until I actually started to do the research,” she explained. For Smith, trying to love the problem by understanding its connecting pieces broadened how she saw and thought about the issue.
Expanding Curiosity and Perspective
Reynolds felt that the most striking part of this experience was not actually the presentation content, but rather the way students emotionally engaged with the topics themselves. She noted, “I think you can see when a student’s heart has expanded . . . you can just tell there’s an increase in love and charity.”
The students’ presentations demonstrated an impressive range of curiosity: global issues like the refugee crisis in Uganda and water scarcity in Chad were presented alongside issues closer to home like doomscrolling and migraines. Regardless of their chosen focus, students stretched beyond their own experiences and researched the realities faced by other people and communities.
Ballard Brief editor Zachary Crane observed that the students’ research opened their eyes to the good that is being done in the world, as well as how many opportunities exist to engage with the causes they’re passionate about. “I think some of the most fulfilling things in life come from helping other people and from finding what you’re passionate about,” he noted. “It’s really cool that they’re starting at this young age.”
A Blueprint for the Future
In an era where young people are constantly faced with fragmented data and misinformation, learning how to break down issues using an unbiased, structural framework equips learners with tools and skills they’ll need later in life. For the students at Maple Mountain High School, learning how to write a Ballard Brief allowed them to practice information literacy, improve their research strategies, and expand their worldview. It was the first step on a long road to becoming mindful, informed adults.
By learning to evaluate evidence with curiosity, humility, and critical thinking, these students are building a foundation for thoughtful leadership and meaningful social impact. It’s also one more way the Ballard Center is helping students learn to Do Good. Better.