This qualitative study used a multimodal strategy to examine the voices of students with the objective of determining how they experienced the phenomenon of school engagement in two of its dimensions: cognitive and agentic. Data from 157 students, aged 12–13, from four public schools located in urban and rural areas of three municipalities in Colombia, served to identify key factors that reinforced or hindered students’ investment in their school activities. Results show that encouragement and emotional support from teachers, along with a healthy school climate that favors peer collaboration, the explicit use of strategies to foster cognitive development, and bi-directional dialogue and respect are determinant factors in stimulating students to participate actively in their educational trajectories.