JSA – Junior State of America

On April 20 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, author, journalist, and the host of Fareed Zakaria GPS, Dr. Fareed Zakaria addressed over 400 politically-minded high school students who traveled from all over the Mid-Atlantic Region for  JSA’s Mid-Atlantic Spring State convention, which was held that weekend. Though Dr. Zakaria’s presentation was the highlight of the conference, students also, participated in debates, met JSA students from all over the East Coast, and placed their vote in order to elect the next school year’s elected student officials.

The theme of the convention was “The Future of Freedom: Rights, Revolution, and Renewal”, and Fareed Zakaria spoke about the theme broadly and answered students’ questions following the presentation. Some of the main topics he addressed during his remarks were terrorism and the Arab Spring, offering insights about the correlation of increased number of males in a society with periods of political unrest and tying together the predisposing nature of Arab governments and oil wealth to the development of terrorism in the region.

Simone Klein, Governor of the Mid-Atlantic State, expressed great interest when describing Dr. Zakaria’s remarks and answers to student’s questions. “Fareed Zakaria was a great speaker because he discussed major issues we all wonder about, such as terrorism, and explained them in a way we all understood. He engaged our questions and presented us with information in relatable and unique ways.”

Olivia Mastrangelo, Mid-Atlantic Assistant Convention Coordinator, asked Dr. Zakaria “What is your definition of leadership?” In response, he described that a good leader needs to inspire people. Instead of being some sort of heroic person, a leader must have the ability to bring out the best in others and must be capable of lighting fires within others. While wrapping up, he made a very inspiring comment addressing the fact that everybody in the room lives in the United States and is privileged with extraordinary gifts which should be used in order to each become leaders in our own unique ways.

Having such a well-known journalist and author was not only exciting for all the students who attended the convention, but it was also to hear his insightful response to questions after his keynote presentation. The keynote address from Dr. Zakaria added a great deal of excitement to an already excellent and educational weekend, and helped students understand more about foreign policy and leadership ahead of a busy weekend of debating issues.

A new video highlighting The Junior Statesmen Foundation’s (JSA) highly acclaimed AP U.S. History course at the JSA Summer School at the University of Virginia has just been released. High school students will have the opportunity to learn about United States history at the university founded by Thomas Jefferson. The AP U.S. History course that the student will take during this intensive 5-week program is equivalent to a full two-semester course and will prepare students to take the Advanced Placement examination in U.S. History administered in May by the College Board. Continue Reading

JSA students from across the nation this month held civic one-day conferences at universities where they contemplated the theme “Rhetoric vs. Reality: Facing the Facts.” The student-run conferences sought to illuminate the lack of nuance and specifics in today’s public debates. These one-day conferences were held at the University of Connecticut at Stanford, Boston University Law School, The University of California, Merced, Santa Clara University, Princeton University, and Loyola Marymount University. Continue Reading

The message on her fundraising page couldn’t be clearer: “THANK YOU SO MUCH! I AM GOING TO PRINCETON!” In just 7 days, Jazmin Vergara managed to raise nearly $3,500 to attend the JSA Summer School program at Princeton University.

After completing the JSA Fundraising Academy webinar, Jazmin got right to work. “I first began the fundraising challenge through my school since I had talked to teachers about the program. For the first three days a great majority of the teachers had helped me gain more donations for me by putting the link on their Facebook or Twitter. From there, I realized I can’t just rely on my school… So, I went ahead and sent e-mails to my local mayor, the city council, the board of education, and others,“ she says.

She also faced some struggles. A week after starting her campaign, no one had donated to her. So she decided to, in her words, “kick it up.” “I started going face-to-face to local businesses and telling them my story of how I found this program and how much it means it to me to be able to go and gave them the link [to my fundraising page]. Then, I decided to e-mail the local news outlet… and they responded gleefully and got a story about me out in one night. I also had the help of one of the Board of Education members who I had sent an e-mail to and had sent a new personal referral to about fifty of his friends in the community”

Her increased efforts paid off: “With the press, the city, and my family coming together I felt as if the link to my page was on a billboard! Within about the whole school day I had checked my e-mail and the donations just kept coming. By the end of the day at three o’clock, I got the e-mail saying that I had met what I needed. “

Jazmin also has some advice for other students looking to raise the money for summer school: “Do not be afraid to e-mail anyone and everyone. The more you get your name out there, the more people will want to become invested in you. Brag about yourself!“

JSA Fundraising Academies, which can help students learn how to put together a successful campaign to raise the funds need for summer school, as Jazmin did, are held on Tuesday (7pm ET) and Wednesday (6pm PT) evenings each week through May. To sign up, send an email to FundraisingAcademy@jsa.org with your name and which day you would like to attend Fundraising Academy.

To start your own fundraising page, go to www.jsa.org/summerfundraising

The Junior State of America (JSA) held its annual Winter Congress conventions in Washington, DC during the weekends of February 8-10, 15-17 and 22-24. During these civic education simulations, over 2,200 student delegates played the part of representatives and senators, debating bills that were written and submitted by their peers. The students who participated gained a greater understanding of legislative procedure as well as sharpened their debate skills, and learned more about the issues that concern them. Continue Reading