Free Expression Advocacy Institute DC – Summer 2022
PEN America’s summer 2022 Free Expression Advocacy Institute in Washington DC is an intensive, in-person, five-day, educational and training program where high school students can learn the theories, laws, histories, and methodologies behind free expression advocacy. Offered Monday through Friday, August 1-5, 9 am – 4:30 pm, the daily schedule will include presentations led by expert legal and policy practitioners from PEN America, interactive workshops designed to teach tangible skills, field trips to relevant sites around the city, and TA-facilitated discussion sessions and activities to dive deeper into the issues with their peers. Participants will cap their experiences by working on a variety of advocacy projects and entering creative contests over the course of the Institute to compete for prizes and awards in the final closing session of the program. Students who successfully complete the program will also be granted a certificate of professional achievement in free expression advocacy from PEN America.
*PEN America offers financial aid and tuition waivers for any student that expresses need.
*Will Be Held In Person*
Dates: Monday – Friday, August 1-5, 2022
Time: 9 am – 4:30pm
Cost: $500
Financial aid available
Location: Bard High School Washington DC Campus
4430 H St SE, Washington, DC 20019
Admissions and financial aid will be decided on a rolling basis. The final deadline to have your application considered is Thursday, July 28 at 11:59 p.m. If you have any questions, please email institute@pen.org.
INSTITUTE APPLICATION FINANCIAL AID APPLICATION
Topics Covered in Our Program:
The First Amendment and its Limitations, Counter-Speech and Combating Hate, Freedom of the Press and the Local News Crisis, Media Literacy and Free Speech Online, Protest Rights and the Freedom of Assembly, Academic Freedom and Free Speech in Schools, Artistic Freedom Around the World, Pro Tips for Advocacy Campaigning, Free Speech and Mass Incarceration, Prisoners of Conscience Around the World, and more!
Advocacy Projects and Creative Contests
Throughout the program, students will have options to work on various advocacy projects and creative contests themed around domestic and international free expression issues. Projects will range from designing public advocacy campaign slideshows, writing opinion editorials, and engaging in speech-writing, to creative writing and artistic options. Student projects will require submission by Thursday evening August 4, with awards and prizes being announced in the closing session at the end of the program Friday, August 5.
Our Staff
Nicholas
Perez
Program Manager for Free Expression and Education at PEN America, Perez is a former United Nations consultant and instructor of international affairs, human rights, and Model U.N.
Kristen
Shahverdian
Program Manager for Free Expression and Education at PEN America, Shahverdian is an experienced lecturer and workshop facilitator in dance, history, and the arts.
Peris
Tushabe
Program Assistant for Free Expression and Education at PEN America, Tushabe is a graduate of Skidmore College in political science, born and raised in Uganda, interested in the roles of youth movements in democracy.
Leila
Markosian
Program Assistant for Free Expression and Education at PEN America, Markosian is a graduate of Middlebury College in comparative literature interested in the relationship between identity, platforms, and power.
Instructors from PEN America
nadine
Farid Johnson
Washington Director
Jeremy
Young
Senior Manager for Free Expression and Education
Caits
Meissner
Director of Prison and Justice Writing
Anjali
Emsellem
Prison and Justice Writing Program Assistant
Special Guests
Rikki
Nathanson
Mary Beth
Tinker
Nurse, Teen & Children’s Rights Advocate, Civics Instructor, Public Speaker, Plaintiff 1969 Supreme Court Case Tinker v Des Moines
Bukeni
Waruzi
Executive Director, Free the Slaves
Neijma
Celestine-donner
Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Social Work
Rachel
sanchez kenneally
National Donor Liaison and Coordination Officer, International Organization on Migration – UN Migration
