“Acton Club” Concludes for School Year
In spring 2014, a group of students from West Catholic High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, visited Acton and were given a tour of the building. After they were done, they asked Mike Cook, Acton’s director of programs and educational impact (and West Catholic alumnus), how they could go about starting an “Acton Club” at their school. This grassroots effort blossomed from a vague idea into a fully-functioning student organization.
The group was founded by five students: Jack Pacific, McKenna Tue, Chris Kohane, Paul Babkowski, and Matthew Urbik, who was the first president of the club. In 2012, these students actively followed the political turmoil that was often prevalent in the news and would informally meet and discuss these events. They realized that they had an interest in politics, business, and economics and wanted to show other people how these important concepts are directly related to faith. The group went to Cynthia Kneibel, principal of West Catholic High School, who introduced them to the Acton Institute.
The club officially started last fall with just a handful of students, but as the school year continued, more and more students became interested and started attending. The club met every Tuesday at lunchtime, which meant students gave up precious free time in order to study and discuss Acton Institute resources. They would discuss these resources in light of current events under the leadership of Sean Nolan, a member of the theology department and their faculty advisor.
During the end-of-the-year award ceremony at West Catholic, Acton Club founders were recognized for their achievements and presented with “Free and Virtuous Society” awards from the Acton Institute. Although the founding members have now graduated, they put together a two-year plan to ensure that the club will continue at West Catholic. Anyone interested in starting their own Acton Club is encouraged to get in touch with Acton and visit the Book Shop (shop.acton.org) for resources. To listen to these young men describe their experience, visit http://www.acton.org/media/radio-free-acton and find the podcast titled, “Faith and Freedom in High School,” or visit the Acton PowerBlog for more stories about them.
From Our Conference Participants
I honestly felt invigorated after Acton University—probably more energized, more inspired—than I’ve been in a long time. I think I have begun to dream big again.
—Keegan
Dallas, Texas
Thank you for the opportunity to attend Acton University. I woke up thanking God every day that I had the opportunity to be in the midst of so many great thinkers and like-minded individuals . . .
—Kamilah
Charlotte, North Carolina
Instituto Acton Reaches Out to Latin American Audience
On March 18, 2015, leaders in economics and religion from all over the world came together in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to study and discuss freedom. As part of the One and Indivisible: The Relationship between Religious and Economic Freedom Conference Series, the Acton Institute and Instituto Acton hosted this conference titled, “Christianity and the Foundations of a Free Society.”
Keynote speakers at the Foundations of a Free Society conference were Samuel Gregg, Acton’s director of research, Anielka Olson, coproducer of Poverty, Inc., Mario Silar, senior researcher at Instituto Acton, and Gabriel Zanotti, academic director of Instituto Acton and professor at the Universidad Austral. Rev. Robert Sirico, president and cofounder of the Acton Institute, and Gustavo Hasperue, academic secretary at Instituto Acton, moderated the event. Gregg gave the first address to a crowd of more than 250 people on “God, Reason, and our Civilizational Crisis,” followed by Silar’s comments on “Christianity’s Contribution to Limited Government.” During the afternoon session, the audience heard from Zanotti on “Classical Liberalism: Guarantor of Religious Freedom” and later Olson on “Faith and Liberty as the Solution to Poverty.” The conference was live-streamed with more than 740 participants tuning in from 52 different countries. The lectures were given in both English and Spanish with simultaneous interpretation provided.
In March 2015, Instituto Acton (formerly Instituto Acton Argentina) became a subsidiary of the Acton Institute. Instituto Acton, while organizationally independent for the time being, will share common objectives and goals with Acton. Led by executive director Cecilia G. de Vázquez Ger, Instituto Acton “integra las verdades Judeocristianas con los principios de la Economía de Mercado.” Its mission is to promote a free and virtuous society, characterized by the validity of personal rights and the market economy in harmony with the principles of the Judeo-Christian faith.
The core of the Instituto’s work consists of academic activities, such as conferences and research, and also sharing work and events through digital communication and institutional relations. Programs include: Acton Joven, cursos online, presentaciones de PovertyCure, and seminarios. Acton Joven (Young Acton) is a program designed specifically for young people interested in a free and virtuous society. They meet monthly to learn about, discuss, and debate important topics. Cursos Online are virtual classrooms allowing students of all ages to learn from leaders in real time using webpages, live videos, and the opportunity to live chat with the course teachers. For their Presentaciones de PovertyCure (PovertyCure presentations), the Instituto works with PovertyCure resources and team members to explain how to rethink aid and poverty alleviation. The Instituto holds several seminarios (lectures and seminars) throughout the year on various topics. Its impressive program lineup is complemented by Instituto Acton’s successful outreach. In 2014, the Instituto became Latin America’s top think tank in terms of the numerous social media profiles managed by the organization, especially on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
The next conference in the One and Indivisible Series is titled “Judaism, Christianity, and the West: Building and Preserving the Institutions of Freedom.” It will be held on September 9, 2015, at the Pontifical Institute Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center in Israel. This will be Acton’s first conference held in the Middle East.
Acton Partners with the Charles Koch Institute
While Acton has hosted Charles Koch Institute Fellows as part of Acton’s summer internship program and through the Koch Associate Program for nearly a decade, last fall was the first time Acton partnered with Koch’s Liberty@Work program. This nine-month program that runs from August until April promises real work experience and networking opportunities. It is open to recent graduates as well as individuals who are more established in their careers. Participants are placed in state-based nonprofit organizations throughout the country where they work in a full-time, paid position. From the Liberty@Work website:
Liberty@Work is an interactive web-based professional education and training program for individuals interested in improving well-being by advancing liberty. As a participant, you will have the chance to undergo management training for four hours every Wednesday and further develop your skills and expand your network . . . Additionally, participants travel to Washington, DC, for the first week of the program and meet in person for three other professional education summits.
Acton’s first Liberty@Work Fellow, Patrick Oetting, now a full-time associate for the Acton Institute, said the program has been the most rewarding experience of his professional life. He said that the time he spent in this program will significantly impact his future career:
Top notch lectures on classical liberalism combined with “Market-Based-Management” and leadership training provided a fundamental understanding of how applying free market principles in the workplace allow for the greatest amount of value creation. Implementing these principles in my work with PovertyCure has allowed me to become more effective and efficient in the way I operate on a daily basis. While I found great value in the professional development training, I believe the greatest value of Liberty@Work came through the connections I made with others fighting for liberty across the country. Whether it came through group projects focused on societal well-being or the occasional happy hour, Liberty@Work provided a great platform to network in a way that will mobilize the liberty-advancing network for years to come.
