Rhode Island high school students will discuss global issues with U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis and other elected officials and civic leaders at the Rhode Island State House on Monday, March 31.

The Rhode Island event is part of the 15th annual Capitol Forum on America’s Future, taking place in several states nationwide. The program was conceived by Brown University’s Choices for the 21st Century Education Program, an affiliate of the Watson Institute for International Studies based in the University’s Office of Continuing Studies.

As part of the Capitol Forum program, students study and discuss various positions on global issues – even advocating positions that are opposed to their own – to better understand policy options and their consequences.

Run on a statewide basis, the forum seeks to raise awareness of critical international issues and to help develop a foundation for long-term civic engagement. Students debate the U.S. role in such foreign policy matters as terrorism, the international economy, nuclear proliferation, immigration, and the environment.

“On Capitol Forum Day, student representatives of each of the participating high schools come together to deliberate on important global issues with each other, political leaders, and policy experts,” said Christopher Walsh, co-coordinator of the Rhode Island Capitol Forum. “As the world grows more interdependent and the problems more complex, Capitol Forum has proven to be an exciting and important learning program for high school students in Rhode Island.” 

Expert panelists include Professor Maureen Moakley from URI, Professor Timothy Hoyt from the U.S. Naval War College, and Stephen Kinzer, a Fellow at the Watson Institute at Brown University and former international correspondent for the New York Times.

Some 80 students and 14 teachers from Rhode Island high schools will participate, representing Cranston, East Greenwich, Middlebridge School in Narragansett, Providence Academy of International Studies, Scituate, Exeter-West Greenwich, Westerly, Warwick and South Kingstown.