Sunday, October 30, 2011

The Northeast Junior State today announced that it will host Professor Tony Wagner, Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard University, at its Fall State Convention on November 12th and 13th at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers in Boston.

Professor Tony Wagner: Professor Wagner has dedicated his life to the improvement of American Education. After earning an M.A.T. and an Ed.D. at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Professor Wagner went on to serve as high school teacher, K-8 principal, university professor in teacher education, and a founding executive director of Educators for Social Responsibility. In 2000, Professor Wagner became the co-founder and co-director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard University School of Education, where he served for more than a decade. Today, Professor Wagner is the first Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard.

Professor Wagner consults widely to schools, districts, and foundations around the country and internationally. He is also a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and a widely published author. His work includes numerous articles and four books, including, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need—and What We Can do About It, which been a best seller, is being translated into Chinese, and will be sold at Fall State. His fifth book, Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World, will be published next April by Simon & Schuster.

The Junior Statesman Foundation: The mission of the Junior State of America and the Junior Statesmen Foundation (JSA) is to strengthen American democracy by educating and preparing high school students for life-long involvement and responsible leadership in a democratic society. In the student-run Junior State and at JSA summer schools and summer institutes, and year-round program participants learn statesmanship as they engage in political discourse. They cultivate democratic leadership skills, challenge one another to think critically, advocate their own opinions, develop respect for opposing views and learn to rise above self-interest to promote the public good.

To accomplish these goals, Northeast JSA holds conventions and conferences throughout the year. The first and largest Northeast Convention of the year, Fall State, will be held at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers on November 12th and 13th, 2011. Politically active students from all across the Northeast, will join together to debate and discuss the most pressing political issues facing our nation today. With thousands of students from Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and the rest of the Northeast coming together to debate, discuss, and learn, JSA represents youth civic activism in a generation with a lack of political engagement.

The main activity in which students partake is attending debate blocks. During debate blocks, students debate social, foreign, and economic policy issues. These debates allow students to learn about current events and political issues America faces, form opinions, and discuss, in terms of policy, actions the US government can take. Students have the opportunity to attend "Compromise Central" debates in which students must compromise on controversial issues, an important skill in our increasingly polarized country. In philosophy debates, students debate controversial philosophical, moral, and religious issues, allowing people to express their views of life, as well as politics. In Crisis Debates, students learn the valuable skills of reacting and making decisions in the midst of a crisis, and in historical debates, students are able to stand in the shoes of politicians of the past, and either affirm or negate their decision, discussing the pros and cons to the decision, allowing students, to get a better grasp of American political history.

Feeding America Northeast JSA will be promoting Feeding America as its activism cause at Fall State, encouraging the Junior Statesman of America to contribute to their community. Feed America is a non-profit organization whose mission is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger. Junior Statesman throughout the Northeast are not only donating money to contribute to the fight against hunger in America, many are also volunteering for the organization, as well as advocating for the organization through contact with legislators.

JSA is an organization which advocates for student activity, political activism, and civic engagement. JSA Northeast Fall State allows students to join together is discussion and debate on a wide array of issues, hear great speakers, contribute to their community, and socialize with other politically interested students.

Jack Cahn

Northeast Director of Public Relations

Jcahn@Northeastjsa.org

347-266-4575

Jerry Cahn, Ph.D., J.D.

President & Managing Director

Presentation Excellence / Leader Connections

New York City, NY