Source: David Hoffman, dhoffie7@k-state.edu;
and Dena Bunnel, denab@k-state.edu
Web site: http://www.k-state.edu/bluekey/uspeak/index.htm
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-6415, bbohn@k-state.edu

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009

K-STATE'S U-SPEAK GIVES KANSAS HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS AND JUNIORS OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE VIEWS ON POLITICAL, SOCIAL ISSUES

MANHATTAN -- Blue Key, the senior leadership honorary at Kansas State University, is giving more than 100 high school juniors and seniors from across Kansas the chance to speak their minds at U-Speak, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, March 2, at Kansas State University.

U-Speak, which will be in the K-State Student Union, is an open forum on current political and social issues and is sponsored by Blue Key. Participants were selected through an application process.

"We have selected teens who have strong opinions on the current events in their communities, state or the nation, and who are interested in learning how there peers feel and what they think," said David Hoffman, senior in advertising and sociology, Lenexa. Hoffman and Dena Bunnel, senior in agricultural communications and journalism and political science, Welda, are both Blue Key members and are co-directors of U-Speak.

Activities will include an interactive open session presented by Pat Bosco, K-State vice president for student life and dean of students; multiple discussion sessions, where participants choose which topic they want to discuss; and small group sessions led by Blue Key members.

For more information on U-Speak, contact Hoffman at dhoffie7@k-state.edu or Bunnel at denab@k-state.edu.