ACLU Summer Institute

Hello! My name is Becca Smith. I am 16 years old and a sophomore at Bloomington High School South. I am also the President of Prism Youth Community, a group for LGBTQ+ youth in south-central Indiana. I've been very involved in the education and training aspect of Prism. I have traveled around Indiana delivering trainings to over 2,000 youth-serving professionals on how to be culturally competent in working with LGBTQ+ youth. Educational advocacy is a large part of my life right now, and I hope that it will be long into the future. My dream is to become a school social worker with specific studies in Juvenile Justice Youth Advocacy and spend my life making the world a better place.

I was recently accepted out of thousands of applicants into the ACLU Summer Institute, a program for rising juniors and seniors in high school. It is held in Washington DC at the end of the summer. The program is an "advanced, firsthand learning experience for the next generation of social justice advocates". Workshops will be led by lawyers and community activists, and students like me will get the chance to meet with elected officials and hear from civil rights pioneers. Many other amazing things will be happening, and I am so excited to attend and gain knowledge and experience that will be essential to my advocacy efforts in the future!

The program tuition is due on June 1st. I would be so, so grateful to each and every one of you if you are able to donate so that I am able to attend this fantastic program, and/or share my campaign with others! Thank you very much for your interest and for reading this, and I hope you have a wonderful day!