Elon Launches Freedom & Democracy Summer Program for High School Students

An interdicisplinary team of professors at Elon University are launching a philosophy-centric residential summer program on democracy and civic engagement for underserved students entering their senior year of high school.

The “Freedom Scholars” program was created by Associate Professor of English Prudence Layne, Assistant Professor of Philosophy Lauren Guilmette, and Assistant Professor of Political Science and Policy Studies Joel Shelton.

[Elon University]

The participating students will spend two weeks living on the Elon campus and take a course led by Professor Guilmette, “How Should We Live?”, making use of texts by Plato as well as contemporary writers. Afterwards, the students will return regularly to the college for meetings with mentors and workshops on various topics such as leadership and financial literacy, and participate in a symposium sharing their own work in the Spring of their senior year.

The program is funded by a $300,000 “Knowledge for Freedom” grant from the Teagle Foundation awarded to Layne, Guilmette, and Shelton. Because of the grant, the program (including housing and supplies) is free to participating students, and comes with an $800 stipend. You can learn more about it here.