JSA – Junior State of America

JSA student governors Summer Wu and Griffin Rubin at “Every Student A Citizen” conference in Chicago

By: Summer Wu

A group of JSA students recently were invited to facilitate discussions amongst their states’ top education leaders, ranging from superintendents to state senators. With the recent national push for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) focused schools, many educators fear that civic education, which inspires students to be active participants in democracy, may be overlooked. As a result, the National Center for Learning and Citizenship (NCLC) and the Education Commission of the States (ECS) have partnered to sponsor “Every Student A Citizen”, a project which aims to bring together state leaders to foster the development of state policy supporting civic learning and engagement. This past June, legislators, teachers, and youth leaders convened at three regional conferences across the country in order to prioritize, discuss, and pursue this mission. Among the youth leaders present were four JSA Governors representing Texas, Illinois, California, and New Jersey. Continue Reading

Woodgrove High School’s JSA chapter was spotlighted in an article for the Leesburg Times. The chapter is finishing their inaugural year with a visit and speech from Congressman Wolf. Continue Reading

Staples’ JSA chapter, in Westport, Conn. was written-up in the Minuteman News Center for it’s ability to develop student leaders in the Northeast State and in their own school. Continue Reading

Dr. Tony Wagner will keynote the Northeast JSA convention on November 12, 2011, in Boston, MA. He is the first Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard. He will speak about education policy from his perspective as an educator and a consultant who, has worked with domestic and international schools, districts, and foundations. Continue Reading

“We need young people like you out there to help make our country as good as it can be,” Young told students. Continue Reading