Help local teens speak out about school and community issues that matter to them!
The Speak Up! Speak Out! initiative at UT’s Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life seeks UT students who are passionate about youth empowerment and community engagement to serve as mentors in our Speak Up! Speak Out! (SUSO) classrooms.
Each mentor helps a team of middle or high school students research a local community issue that is of concern to them and design an innovative solution to address it. Teams then compete for funds to implement their solutions at the Speak Up! Speak Out! Civics Fair at the end of the semester. SUSO takes place in middle and high schools throughout Travis and Williamson counties. Mentors will spend one or two hours a week with their teams for about six weeks this fall semester.
Interested volunteers should contact SUSO Project Manager Sinda Nichols at sinda.nichols@austin.utexas.edu or 512-471-7142. To learn more about Speak Up! Speak Out!, visit our website at www.speakupspeakout.org.