National Constitution Center Announces September Student Exchange Program

The National Constitution Center has extended an invitation to high school students to participate in the 2009 – 2010 season of its national high school student program, The Exchange: A Marketplace of Student Ideas. The first videoconference event will take place on Friday, September 25th 2009 from 1PM to 2:30 PM EDT. This installment of The Exchange, “Should the U.S. reduce immigration?” asks students to consider ways to address immigration reform and to work together to create an immigration policy for the United States. The discussion will be hosted by SuChin Pak from MTV and Discovery Channel’s Planet Green, and moderated by Dr. Michael Hogan, co-director of the Center for Democratic Deliberation and Pennsylvania State University.

Students will have the opportunity to be heard by and hear from other students around the country using Internet2 video conferencing technology. It is an exciting way for students to discuss current constitutional issues with their classmates and peers in other parts of the nation.

Schools that participate in The Exchange will be asked to use a free lesson provided by the National Constitution Center to prepare their students to be part of the conversation.

Space is in the program is limited. If your school is chosen to participate in The Exchange, you will be asked to select one student to be part of the video conference round table. Only one student, your schools’ student representative, is allowed to speak to the nation audience during the videoconference. If a student other than your student representative speaks without prior authorization, then your school will be disconnected from the video conference.

During the videoconference, students will have an opportunity to interact with each other and share their thoughts on current immigration policy. Students will use this deliberation to recommend immigration reform policies the government should follow.

Participating schools must have connectivity to the INTERNET2 network and the ability to do H.323 videoconferencing. While there is no cost to participate in this event, we do ask schools to work to make sure this event is a success. Participating schools will be responsible for the following:

• Participation and successful completion of videoconference testing prior to the event with the National Constitution Center
• Selection of a student representative
• Preparation of students through the use of the provided Exchange lesson plan and resources
• Uploading your class’s point of view on the issue of immigration reform at www.constitutioncenter.org/exchange.

If you would like to take advantage of this remarkable opportunity, please contact Jason Allen at either jallen@constitutioncenter.org or 215.409.6644 by Friday September 18th 2009 for registration and information. Mandatory videoconference testing for all sites will be on Monday September 21st from 1 PM to 3 PM EDT. Please confirm that your school has Internet2 connectivity prior to contacting Jason Allen to reserve a testing time.