For those of you who aren't familiar with CloseUp, they're one of the nation's premier organizations when it comes to teaching young people about our democracy, civic engagement, and political involvement in a first-hand way. High school juniors and seniors who participate in CloseUp's signature Washington DC program come to the city for an entire week and meet with elected officials, congressional staff, advocacy groups, lobbyists, and other people who work within the beltway (not to mention hundreds of other active high school youth from around the country). A friend of mine from Oakland, CA apparently enjoyed the experience so much that he went on to do a total of four CloseUp programs during his high school years.

One of the events that CloseUp students participate in during their time in DC is called the "community on-site," where students meet with advocacy and organizing groups to learn about the work that they do and how they can get involved when they get back to their home states. If you think this sounds like a match made in heaven for Our Education, you're right... and maybe we should hire you as our operations director. We talked with our friend from CloseUp for more than a half hour, and agreed that it would be a great fit for both our organizations to do as many CloseUp community on-sites with Our Education as possible--as many as two or more per week--over the next weeks! Our first one, to a group of probably eighty students from across the country, will be on Monday afternoon - and we are very excited. So if you're a high school student who wants to learn more about Our Education now you can come visit us in DC with a CloseUp program too!