Next week marks the first of three student conferences we’ll be hosting this fall. Over the course of the next month, we’ll bring together students from twenty different schools for a diverse array of workshops related to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. The conferences are a unique way for us to educate Maine’s youth about their rights, but they’re not the only work we do with schools.
Later this week we’ll make our first visit to a high school class of the 2012-13 school year. We travel all around the state to present to schools that can’t come to our conferences, and on Wednesday we’ll be presenting on the right to free speech and its importance to our democracy. We’ll also be taking a look at Maine’s new anti-bullying law and discussing how that fits into those protections guaranteed under the 1st Amendment.
As the school year continues, we’ll be making many visits just like this one. Last year we traveled to 15 schools in the spring alone, and we’re hoping to visit even more this year. All told, we’ll lead well over 100 workshops this year – all free of charge – and travel anywhere in the state where students want to learn about the Bill of Rights and how it affects their lives.
We’ve booked up all the available spots for our student conferences this fall, but we’d love to visit your school on a date that works for you. We can present on a wide range of civil liberties topics, and we’re happy to work with teachers to tailor our curriculum to your specific needs. If you’re interested in having us visit your class, contact me at jgaither@aclumaine.org or 774-5444.
