Opportunities for Students and Young Professionals
To keep the torch of liberty lit and bright, we would do well to introduce young people to the greater classical liberal community. The following is a sample of organizations that offer programs for high school students, college students and young professionals -- as well as teachers and professors -- who are interested in individual and economic liberty. Among the programs available: free seminars, essay competitions, paid internships, career mentoring, social networks and scholarships. Help introduce young people to the greater network: Post the select list below on your website and continually add to it. Please write info@spn.org if your organization offers similar programs, but is not listed. Include a concise description of the programs.
The Atlas Society's Objectivist Center offers seminars, scholarships, study guides and internships for undergraduate and graduate students. The programs range from introductory materials for those just getting acquainted with Ayn Rand's thought, to advanced courses for scholars who seek to master the fine points of the philosophy.
The Ayn Rand Institute works to introduce young people to Ayn Rand's novels, support scholarship and research based on her ideas, and promote the principles of reason, rational self-interest, individual rights and laissez-faire capitalism. ARI awards more than $80,000 in prize money each year to high school, including 8th grade, and college student winners of its essay contests.
The Bill of Rights Institute develops instructional material and educational programs on America's Founding documents and principles for students and high school American history and civics teachers. The Institute's Being an American Essay Contest is open to high school students.
Cato on Campus is an online resource for college and high school students, created by the Cato Institute, one of the nation's leading public policy research foundations. Cato on Campus also offers monthly writing and video contests for students.
The Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism
Dedicated to exploring the moral, legal, constitutional, political and economic foundations of capitalism, the Clemson Institute is particularly devoted to fostering a serious examination of a free society. The Institute offers programs for undergraduate and graduate students and scholars, as well as high school teachers and select high school students. Programs include course development, academic research, conferences and seminars.
"Books, videos, workshops, study guides." Economic Thinking's offerings are geared toward private, public and home school students, especially those involved with debate, and educators. ET's mission: "to inspire students to explore the dynamics of a market economy through understanding the central role of economic freedom, property rights, and the rule of law in promoting progress and prosperity in America and around the world."
Foundation for Economic Education
Established in 1946, the mission of FEE is to offer the most consistent case for the "first principles" of freedom: the sanctity of private property, individual liberty, the rule of law, the free market and the moral superiority of individual choice and responsibility over coercion. FEE offers free seminars for high school and college students.
TFAS is an educational nonprofit that offers academic programs for college students. Through its 12 Institutes around the world, TFAS aims to prepare young people for honorable leadership by educating them in the theory, practice and benefits of a free society. TFAS also offers internships to college students in Washington, D.C., at congressional offices, government agencies, broadcast and print media outlets, political and lobby firms, nonprofit organizations and a host of other sites.
A California-based think tank that addresses national and international issues, II's programs include the Sir John M. Templeton Fellowships Essay Contest for college students and junior faculty members; summer seminars in political economy for high school and college students; and internships for college students.
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
ISI works "to educate for liberty" - to identify the best and the brightest college students and to nurture in these future leaders the American ideal of ordered liberty that stems from our nation's founding principles: limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, the rule of law, market economy and moral norms. ISI offers lectures, conferences, publications and fellowships for college and college-bound high school students.
The Institute for Humane Studies assists undergraduate and graduate students who have an interest in individual liberty. Each year IHS awards more than $600,000 in scholarships, sponsors the attendance of hundreds of students at its free, educational summer seminars, and offers paid internships in public policy, journalism and filmmaking.
For two weeks in June the Center hosts the Free Enterprise Leadership Challenge, an intensive summer program for high school students. Held at Wingate University, just outside Charlotte, North Carolina, the FELC promotes an understanding of free enterprise through experiential learning, with students starting for-profit businesses that provide products or services to the campus community. Lectures and essay, speech and debate contests promote freedom.
Liberty Fund is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. Liberty Fund conducts conferences throughout the U.S., Canada, Latin America and Europe; publishes as many as 20 or more books each year; and maintains an Online Library of Liberty.
The Mises Institute offers fellowship and conference opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as "all but dissertation" and post-doctoral individuals. The Institute "works to advance the Austrian School of economics and the Misesian tradition, and, in application, defends the market economy, private property, sound money, and peaceful international relations, while opposing government intervention as economically and socially destructive."
SPN provides several programs for young people: Generation Liberty Fellowships help college students and young professionals attend the SPN Annual Meeting; in partnership with the Institute for Humane Studies, SPN provides internships with state-focused, free-market think tanks; and, offers up to $500 in travel grants to SPN members' interns, current and past, who attend an IHS or FEE summer seminar. To learn about the state think tanks across the U.S., refer to the SPN member directory.
Students for a Free Economy, a project of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, is a Michigan-based, nonpartisan, educational organization dedicated to promoting the benefits of free markets, civil society and individual liberty. SFE establishes a presence at Michigan colleges, provides resources and materials, develops future leaders and acts as a network for students to connect with like-minded peers, faculty, mentors and entrepreneurs. SFE materials can be adopted for use in other states.
Students For Liberty seeks to build, develop and support all student organizations dedicated to liberty. SFL offers resources and programs for high school and college students, and organizes an annual International Students For Liberty Conference.
YAF has long been inspiring young people to advance conservative ideas during their school years and throughout their lives. The Foundation offers a campus lecture program, student conferences, activist initiatives, internships and objective journalism through the National Journalism Center.