Why attend the 2025 Teen Summer Symposium?

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We believe every person can make a difference.

Open to  8th-12th grade students, over 500 teens from the across New York have attended the Teen Summer Symposium on Human Rights. Each fall, participants return to their schools and communities inspired to improve the lives of others.

Projects created by Teen Summer Symposium attendees:

• Organizing the Climate Change Strike, Walk Out, 2019
• Organizing the Albany Women’s Empowerment Conference and March, 2019
• Organizing the March for Our Lives, Albany. Read the following articles to learn more: News 10 
• Arts and food festival to benefit RISSE, a local refugee support organization. Read this Times Union article to learn more.
• Coordinating donations from local restaurants to benefit The South End Children’s Cafe
• Partnering with First Book and teachers to improve literacy in their districts
• Starting a letter writing campaign to benefit the homeless in Saratoga
• Raising $2,000 for The Giving Circle, a humanitarian relief organization, in support of Uganda’s first school for the deaf
• Advocating for their schools to become fair trade schools
• Developing online resources to support mental health
• Engaging students from New York’s 213 Key Clubs to support the building of a community farm in Uganda with The Giving Circle.
• Creating The Book Shelf a community-wide book drive for students and families in need. To learn more about this project and how you can support this student’s work, visit her website: thebookshelffundraiser.weebly.com. Also, check out this Times Union article about her work.
• Creating a human rights day at their schools and leading breakout sessions on social justice topics.
• Starting service organizations at their schools

• Meet teens who share your interests.
• Meet human rights advocates.
• Develop the leadership skills that will help you make a difference.
• Explore careers in human rights.
• Create an advocacy plan to raise awareness about a human rights issue.
• Discover your passion for helping others.
• Learn how to change the world.