Dear Bobbi,
Civitas Students Meet with Robin Carnahan Sat.
Civitas students have an opportunity to meet with Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan this Saturday, April 5 at Crossroads (map). We will have a discussion session beginning at 9:00 AM and Ms. Carnahan will join us at 10:00 AM for an hour of questions and answers on student proposals for electoral reform. Among the ideas to be discussed are abolishing the electoral college, allowing elections to extend over several days, and permitting high school students to vote in school-related issues.
FYI, on the state level, the office of Secretary of State is entirely different from the U.S. Secretary of State. In Missouri, one of the primary responsibilities of the Secretary of State is regulation and oversight of elections.
It has become common and fashionable for citizens, young and old, to moan and groan about problems in our electoral system. Rarely do individuals have opportunities to meet with policy-makers and leaders who actually are in positions to fine-tune the system so that we become "a more perfect democracy." We look forward to a large number of students being part of this lively and information discussion.
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Sen. Jeff Smith Meets with Students
Missouri State Senator Jeff Smith came to Crossroads last Saturday to meet with Civitas students who accepted his challenge to present him with ideas for legislation that they would like to see introduced in the Missouri General Assembly. Students began work in the Active Citizenship Conference on Feb. 15-16 and have continued in subsequent sessions as well as in the Civitas on-line forum.
Most discussion focused on issues of education. Considerable time was spent discussion sex education in schools. Two clear points emerged: (a) almost all of the students as well as Senator Smith strongly support providing comprehensive sex education for students in public schools, at the earliest feasible age, and (b) promoting such legislation in Missouri is very difficult and despite Senator Smith's efforts to fashion some sort of compromise, the proponents of the "abstinence only" approach have recently been carrying the day.
Students also discussed the idea of legislation that would permit students in high school (or perhaps only seniors and juniors) to vote in school related issues such as elections for school board members, tax levies, and bond issues. There was general consensus that school board members could do their job much better if the electoral process required them to appeal to students for support. Additionally, providing an opportunity for students to participate in the electoral process in this limited fashion while younger than eighteen years of age would increase the likelihood of their further participation as they got older.
We truly appreciate Senator Smith once again taking time to meet with Civitas students, treating them with respect, honoring their ideas, and working collaboratively towards possible positive change.
Ongoing dialogue on the issues discussed on Saturday as well as others continue at the Civitas forum: www.civitas-stl.com/forum. The session was videotaped by documentarian Frank Popper as part of a comprehensive study on active citizenship by Civitas.
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The first step should always be finding the forum. Ours is located at http://www.civitas-stl.com/forum/ . (There will be a link to it on the home page of the website but feel free to bookmark it as well. -
Once you've found the forum (congrats!) you'll need to join it if you want to post things. Right under the Civitas logo on the upper left hand side of the page is a nifty little button called "Register". Hit it. Agree to the rules, fill out the next page (don't worry, it's short), and you're good to go. -
Almost good to go. Now you need to sign in. (You've signed in to something before, right?) Just toss in your username and password and you should be logged in. From here it's pretty self explanatory. Read the boards. Post something. You can even start your own thread. Just keep in mind a few things. Civitas has the right to delete any posts deemed 'offensive". We'd also like to keep the flame wars and the trolling to a minimum. To enter the discussion on the Jeff Smith Challenge, Election reform, or the Students Bill of Rights, click on the Active Citizenship board (listed on the left) and then the desired thread. if you have any questions, email us at info@civitas-stl.com or call (314) 367-6480.
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Former Governor Invites Students to Forum
Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden has invited Civitas students to participate in a lively discussion of education hosted by the Holden Forum on Public Policy (affiliated with Webster University).
The forum will feature former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise who is publishing a new book on education this month, Raising the Grade: How High School Reform Can Save Our Youth and Our Nation. The presentation and subsequent discussion will be on Tuesday, April 15, at the recently renovated Old Post Office in downtown St. Louis (815 Olive Street; 63101) [map]. It is free of charge. Following the forum, we will take interested students to see the Cardinals play the Milwaukee Brewers, with Civitas providing heavy subsidies for the ticket prices.
Again, this is a unique opportunity for students to meet with decision leaders. If you have questions, please contact Arthur at Civitas or call Abigail Boudreaux at (314) 246-8792 or visit the Holden Forum website at http://www.webster.edu/holdenppf/.
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Civitas Students to Discuss Civil Liberties
On Saturday, April 12, representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri will be coming to Civitas to respond to the recommendations of students who worked on the Student Bill of Rights proposal. Among the presenters will be Nikki Doughty, board member of the ACLU, who participated in our workshop on Feb. 9 with active adults and students. The work of students in the Active Citizenship project is recent; the ACLU has been wrestling with these issues for decades. It should be a most enlightening discussion.
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Upcoming Civitas Events
(Actual events in bold -- always subject to change when change occurs!) Black: High School Blue: Middle School | Date | Time | Place | Activities | Sat.,
04/05 | 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM | Crossroads | Students Meet with Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.
| Sat.,
04/12 | 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM | Crossroads | Meeting with representatives of American Civil Liberties Union on proposed Student Bill of Rights | Thurs.,
04/24 | 9:00 AM -
12:00 PM | Creve Coeur Gov't Center | Middle School Model U.N. Session #1 | Thurs.,
04/24 | Day & Evening | Various | Global Gateway Program on HIV/AIDS in Caribbean | Fri.,
04/25 | Morning & Afternoon | Various | Global Gateway Program on HIV/AIDS in Caribbean | Sat.,
04/26 | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | T.B.A. | Teacher workshop for Global Gateway program with Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting | Sat.,
04/26 | 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM | Crossroads | High School Discussion Session | Wed.,
04/30 | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Creve Coeur Gov't Center | Middle School Model U.N. Session #2 |
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Arthur H. Lieber 314-367-6480 |
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Civitas Associates 10845 Olive Blvd.
Suite #155
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-7760 Phone: (314) 367-6480
Fax: (314) 367-7742 Tuesday, April 1, 2008
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