Today was our first student conference of the year – and it was our largest ever! With 242 students attending from 13 different schools, it was a packed house of eager youngsters ready to listen, discuss and debate on the great constitutional issues of their day.
We featured six different workshops at today’s conference in Portland and each student was able to attend three of the hour-long sessions over the course of the day. As with all of our education programming, we focused on issues that directly affect students. We had workshops on free speech in a school setting, the privacy questions raised by new technology, the rules governing school searches, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, Maine’s new anti-bullying law, and what rights we all have when stopped by the police.
It was really exciting to be part of this conference and to talk with the students in attendance. We draw from all different types of classes, ranging from seniors taking AP Government and sophomores starting U.S. History to civil rights teams and special law classes. Seeing them all interact with each other through our different activities is one of the best parts of the conference, and one of the reasons why it is such a unique experience. Presenters are frequently remarking to me that they spotted a "lawyer in the making" in their class, and to watch these young people come alive as they debate a legislative bill or argue a mock case is definitely one of the highlights of our public education program.
In the next few weeks we’ll host two more conferences – one in Farmington and the other in Belfast – with similar workshops for students to choose from. Like today’s conference in Portland, these events feature presenters from all corners of the ACLU family. We have board members, staff members, attorneys from our legal panel, and volunteer lawyers from around the community. These are busy professionals and they are all more than eager to get up first thing in the morning and donate their time to educate the next generation.
Registration is closed for the remaining conferences, but if you’re a teacher and would like us to visit your classroom and lead one of these workshops there, contact me at jgaither@aclumaine.org or 774-5444 and I’d be happy to set something up.
