MEDIA ALERT: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood in Minneapolis Wednesday to Honor Students for their Effective Teen Driver Safety Campaigns
WHAT | WHO:
At the 23rd Annual National Service-Learning Conference® and youthrive PeaceJam Leadership Conference, Secretary LaHood will speak about the importance of youth leadership in addressing critical public safety issues like distracted driving. He will also honor students from Project Ignition National Leader Schools for their outstanding work to impact teen driver safety.
Also present and speaking earlier in the evening will be U.S. Congresswoman Betty McCollum and the new Special Olympics Project UNIFY® Ambassador, Lauren Alaina, who will be announced that day.
This conference is the largest gathering of youth and educators involved in service-learning, a teaching and learning process used to help students connect academics to real community issues. The conference is convened by Saint Paul-based National Youth Leadership Council and youthrive and draws nearly 2,000 attendees from across the United States and around the globe.
Project Ignition, coordinated by the National Youth Leadership Council and funded by State Farm®, is a teen driver safety grant program that helps high schools connect academic goals to teen driver safety through service-learning.
WHY:
Young people can effectively address world issues while strengthening academic and learning outcomes through service-learning. Specifically, car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Young people are responding to this staggering statistic and, through Project Ignition, are engaging their peers and greater communities to change teen driving behaviors.
WHEN | WHERE:
Wednesday, April 11, Minneapolis Convention Center, Exhibit Hall A
6:30 p.m.: Secretary LaHood will speak during the Welcome Celebration from the Exhibit Hall stage, after which he will present awards to students at the Project Ignition exhibit. He will be briefly available for questions after speaking.
5:00 p.m.: Congresswoman McCollum will speak and Special Olympics Project UNIFY® Ambassador Lauren Alaina will perform during the Opening Plenary.
3:30 p.m.: Press Conference in Room L100J announcing Lauren Alaina as a Special Olympics Project UNIFY® Ambassador for North America.
INTERVIEWS:
Interviews with the Special Olympics Project UNIFY® Ambassador and Project Ignition students will be available upon request at select times.
For more information about NYLC and service-learning go to www.nylc.org.
For more information about the National Service-Learning Conference and youthrive PeaceJam Leadership Conference go to www.nylc.org/conference.
For more information about Project Ignition go to www.sfprojectignition.com.
For more information about State Farm go to statefarm.com® or, in Canada, statefarm.ca®.
For more information about Special Olympics Project UNIFY® go to www.specialolympics.org/projectunify.
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