My name is Rachel Ottman, and I am a third-year student majoring in psychology and political science and minoring in English and international development studies. Along with my studies, I am a speech and debate coach for one of the local high schools in Missoula, with an emphasis on teaching political and current-events speaking. 

When I signed up for the Franke Global Leadership Initiative, I knew immediately that I wanted to prioritize the Culture and Politics Global Theme; it tied closely to my majors and was a centerpiece for many of my personal interests. So, when I had the tangible opportunity to intermix my Global Theme with my academic interests and career into my Beyond the Classroom Experience, I hit the ground running to plan out my excursion. After months of organizing, I went on a 2-week trip to Virginia to explore the relationship between adolescent access to civic education and how it can spearhead their involvement in social movements. 

During the first week of my trip, I chaperoned my students at the National Speech and Debate Association’s 101st annual tournament in Richmond, VA. At this tournament, my school brought five students who competed in four different events, ranging from performances of poetry to ethical debates on the morality of governmental policies. Along with coaching my own students, I also judged over a dozen rounds of debate and was selected for the judging panel in the final round of the tournament. 

For the second week of my experience, I stayed in Arlington, VA, and I commuted daily to Washington, DC, to explore a variety of different museums focused on historical movements to gain insight into the interactions that children and adolescents had with these events. Notably, I had the opportunity to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the National Holocaust Museum. At these museums, I learned about the historic involvement of children in wars, the impact of adolescents in crucial movements like the Civil Rights Movement, public advocacy of teenagers in response to the Holocaust, and a variety of other topics. 

In exploring these issues, I was able to relate them closely to the advocacy done by my students. While my students have greater distance from many of the issues they discussed when related to teenagers during historic social movements and conflicts, the solutions they advocate for are much closer than one may think. In analyzing the topics of their speeches, my students spoke out about the dangers faced by LGBTQ+ youth, the undermining of civil liberties in the United States, and the growing intensity of international conflicts towards minority groups. My students feel passionate about these issues and actively seek out the knowledge to inform older generations. These teenagers care about the world they live in, and they respond in a way that is familiar to them. They speak out. 

The Beyond the Classroom Experience allowed me to explore Culture and Politics in a wider context, encouraging me to understand that, while the environment we live in has changed, the reaction to it has not. Young people continue to be passionate about the issues they and many others face, and they express that passion by speaking out and advocating for themselves. They just need the understanding that outreach is an option, and they need the skills to do so. As a result, there is an institutional obligation to teach young people about civic engagement and their rights to give them the skills needed to be successful in our ever-changing world.