Central Texas high school students gather to present solutions to societal problems, May 14

Event: More than 200 high school students from Austin (Akins, LBJ, Garza and Del Valle), El Paso (Horizon) and San Antonio (Highlands, Lanier and Sam Houston) will convene at The University of Texas at Austin to present their solutions for some of the biggest problems facing their communities--teen pregnancy, illegal immigration, urban agriculture and graffiti.

Speak Up! Speak Out! is a civic education program designed to teach young people about their communities. This event features two components: a civics fair where students display their projects and a Speak Out! session where teams deliver oral presentations to a panel of judges from the community.

When: 4:30-8:30 p.m., today, May 14.

Where: The ground floor of the Sanchez Building at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Speedway. It is across from the entrance to Jester dormitory, beside the Blanton Museum and behind the Perry Castaneda Library. Maps of the University of Texas at Austin can be obtained at http://www.utexas.edu/maps.

Background: Established in 2003, Speak Up! Speak Out! is a co-curricular education program in which teachers use Speak Up! Speak Out! in the classroom with other lesson plans to teach civic engagement, problem-solving and team work.

An initiative of the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation, Speak Up! Speak Out! is funded by a grant from the Dorot Foundation of Providence, R.I. For more information, visit http://communication.utexas.edu/strauss/projectsoso_files/index.html

###

Contacts:
Jeannette Bellemeur
512-791-3978 (mobile)
jbelle2@yahoo.com
or
Erin Geisler
512-475-8071
erin.geisler@austin.utexas.edu