Annenberg Foundation | News | National Constitution Center Explores Religious Expression in Schools During National Student Outreach Program, The Exchange

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National Constitution Center Explores Religious Expression in Schools During National Student Outreach Program, The Exchange

Date: December 03, 2007

Source: National Constitution Center

More Information: http://www.constitutioncenter.org

PHILADELPHIA, PA: The National Constitution Center, with the generous support of the Annenberg Foundation, will present the second installment of The Exchange: A Marketplace of Student Ideas, hosted by MTV News Correspondent SuChin Pak, on Thursday, December 6, 2007 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST in the Center's Kirby Auditorium. Students and teachers from schools across the nation will deliberate and evaluate the timely topic of student religious expression. Participating schools will use the National Constitution Center's cutting-edge Internet2 videoconference technology provided by MAGPI Power Networking at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, for the first time, the program can also be viewed live on the Internet.

"The National Constitution Center and the Annenberg Foundation share the important mission of educating young people about civics and civic responsibility," said Joseph Torsella, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center. "The Exchange is an incredible program that gives students the opportunity to experience democracy in action, not by simply reading about it in a textbook."

Held three times each year, each installment of The Exchange is designed to ignite a constitutional dialogue about a different hot topic among students. The program engages educators and scholarly experts to provide students with the necessary resources to undertake the conversation and continue it in their classrooms.

This installment of The Exchange will feature Charles C. Haynes from the First Amendment Center as the program's scholarly advisor. Haynes will help participants explore the topic of religious expression, addressing the principle issue of whether or not students should be allowed to freely express their religion in school and whether or not that expression is a violation of the rights of other students under the First Amendment.

Participating schools will be asked to develop a video that clearly explains their opinion and feeling towards religious expression at their school. During The Exchange, students will take part in an open forum and have the opportunity to view each other's videos surrounding the topic, exercise their First Amendment rights, discuss their opinions, address their concerns and ask questions of SuChin Pak, Charles Haynes, and students in other participating schools. Following this discussion, the entire group will get the chance to vote on the issues and determine their overall decision regarding religious expression.

Schools scheduled to participate in The Exchange include:
   - Abington Senior High School, Abington, PA
   - Charter High School for Architecture and Design, Philadelphia, PA
   - Constitution High School, Philadelphia, PA
   - Del Valle High School, Del Valle, Texas*
   - Passaic Valley High School, Little Falls, NJ*
   - South Gate Middle School, South Gate, CA*
   - Springfield High School, Springfield, PA
   - West Philadelphia High School, Philadelphia, PA

* Denotes school participating via Internet2 videoconference. Additional schools may be added.

In addition, any school in the country can view a live broadcast of The Exchange over the Internet and become a part of the conversation by emailing questions for consideration. Anyone wishing to watch the live broadcast can do so by logging on to http://www.constitutioncenter.org/TheExchange between 1 and 3 p.m. EST on December 6 and clicking on the provided link.

In preparation for this program, participating schools will receive a curriculum framework developed by the Education and Exhibits Staff at the National Constitution Center prior to the event. The curriculum framework will provide students and teachers with a comprehensive background on the issue of religion in public schools, spark discussion and challenge students to consider the issue and their place in it. The curriculum examines major Supreme Court cases, looks at primary source documents, and permits students to deliberate three perspectives on the issue and present arguments in favor of or in opposition to them.

This is the second installment of The Exchange hosted by SuChin Pak. Pak joined MTV News as a correspondent in May 2001. Since joining the team, she has co-hosted MTV's pre-Grammy show and has covered the MTV Video Music Awards, MTV Movie Awards and the Sundance Film Festival. Pak was an integral part of MTV's 2004 Choose or Lose Campaign, which sought to get 20 million young people to vote. She covered the September 11th aftermath for MTV News, contributing segments on young people volunteering and Muslim-American women.

In 2005, Pak traveled to Thailand to cover the aftermath of the tsunami. Following Hurricane Katrina, she also visited Baton Rouge, Louisiana to report on college students at Louisiana State University who aided rescue and recovery efforts. Born in Korea, Pak and her family moved to the Bay Area when she was 5 years old. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in political science.

Charles C. Haynes is the senior scholar at the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Virginia. He is the author or co-author of six books, including First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights in America and Religion in American Pubic Life. He is the principal organizer and drafter of consensus guidelines on religious liberty in schools, endorsed by a broad range of religious and educational organizations. Haynes is the founding board member of the Character Education Partnership, serves on the steering committee of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools and the American Bar Association Advisory Commission on Public Education and is chairman for the Committee on Religious Liberty of the National Council of Churches. Haynes holds a master's degree from Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate from Emory University.

The National Constitution Center, located at 525 Arch St. on Philadelphia's Independence Mall, is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing public understanding of the U.S. Constitution and the ideas and values it represents. The Constitution Center is a museum, an education center, and a forum for debate on constitutional issues. The museum dramatically tells the story of the Constitution from Revolutionary times to the present through more than 100 interactive, multimedia exhibits, film, photographs, text, sculpture and artifacts, and features a powerful, award-winning theatrical performance, "Freedom Rising." The Center also houses the Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach, which serves as the hub for national constitutional education. For more information, call 215.409.6700 or visit http://www.constitutioncenter.org/.

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