Sources: Rachael Barnett, rachaelb@k-state.edu, and
Michael Rohr, mrohr@k-state.edu
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008
K-STATE'S BLUE KEY SENIOR HONOR SOCIETY SPONSORING USPEAK FOR HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS AND SENIORS
MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University's Blue Key, a senior leadership honor society, is giving high school juniors and seniors the chance to speak out on issues that concern them.
USpeak, an open forum on current political and social issues, will be 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday, March 3, at the K-State Student Union. Around 125 high school juniors and seniors from across Kansas and from parts of Nebraska and Missouri have been selected to participate in the free forum.
The high school students are all leaders interested in the issues facing their communities, states and the nation, according to Michael Rohr, senior in marketing, Derby, and Rachael Barnett, senior in communication science disorders, Hutchinson. Rohr and Barnett are both Blue Key members and are co-coordinators of USpeak.
USpeak participants were selected by Blue Key members through an application process.
At USpeak, students will participate in roundtable discussions on issues they have identified as of interest to them. Blue Key members will facilitate the discussions.
Guest speakers for USpeak include Justin Kastner, assistant professor of food safety and security at K-State and a 1997 Truman Scholarship recipient; and John Carlin, former governor of Kansas who is now a visiting professor of political science at K-State. Both Kastner and Carlin are K-State alums.