Thank so much to all of you who spent time to help smash the voter turnout in the November 2 election. Freedom's tourch will definately continue because of your efforts!

Previous Action Items of the Week

• Action Alert
  
  1.  Be on the lookout for the article on Freedom's Answer in this Sunday's Parade magazine (comes with your Sunday paper).
  2.  Save Parade and plan to take it to your principal on Tuesday morning to tell him/her that your school should register for this program (just click Register Your School on the Home Page).
  3. Send this same message to your entire email list at your school and everywhere else – so that every Principal at every high school gets the same message from every student on Tuesday morning. 
  
  Let's make Tuesday Freedom's Answer Day across America.
  
  Parade goes to 37,000,000 homes Sunday. 
  
  Let's make sure it gets to 20,000 Principals on Tuesday
• Hard to believe, but here in South Carolina I started back to school this week.
  
  Whether your school has begun already or not, now is a good time to be sure it's registered as a Freedom's Answer School. That's what we all agreed to do a few months ago. Well it's action time. Here's how:
  
  1. Click here to see if your school is already registered. (If it is, great!!!!!!!)
  2. If your school is not already registered, go visit your principal. Even if school hasn't started yet, all principals are probably in their office. Tell them about Freedom's Answer. Show some of the materials on the registration page - like the letter from Dr. Tirozzi and the summary sheet of the program. And tell your principal that you're ready to be the Coordinator for the program at your school if that's OK.
  3. With the principal's OK, sign up your school by clicking here .
  
  I learned about Freedom's Answer through Student Council. You might have also - or through HOBY or Boys State or Girls State or YMCA or JSA or FFA or JrROTC. Over the next few weeks you'll be hearing from all the students who form the National Advisory Council, including those representing your own national organization. We're joining together so that, with you, our generation can start making history. Right here, right now. We're not old enough to vote, but we're old enough to lead. Now it's time to take the first step.
  
  Joe Semsar
  National Advisory Council
  Freedom's Answer
  
• What should I do to become active in the Freedom's Answer Program? Here is how!!!!!
  
  1. WORK ON SETTING UP YOUR STATE ADVISORY COUNCIL.
  
  2. WORK WITH DR. JOE ON YOUR ADULT ADVISORY COUNCIL.
  
  3. CONTINUE TO SIGN UP SCHOOLS
  
  4. SET UP A WEEKLY CONFERENCE CALL TO COMMUNICATE with your state members.
  
  
  5. BE SURE TO HOP ON ALL WEDNESDAY NIGHT CALLS TO GET QUESTIONS ANSWERED AND HEAR FREEDOM'S ANSWER STORIES WEDNESDAY NIGHTS (9: 00 PM EASTERN)
  1-800-490-7515
  *1661625*
• Attention all Freedom's Answer students, as the Cleveland Summit rapidly approaches, we want to see all of you help us to make the Freedom's Answer Summit a success. If you want to join us, as spaces are limited.
• School is coming to a close, and I know of at least one graduating senior who is ready for college.  While school may be coming to a close Freedom's Answer is not.  We need you to make sure your schools get signed up before you leave for summer vacation.  And while you're doing that here's one project we have in mind.
   
  Freedom's Answer wants as many graduating seniors as possible to be registered to vote.  There are many ways you can go about doing this, but here are some suggestions.
   
  1) With administrative permission from your school, set up your computer lab as a voter registration machine.  Have each computer display the Freedom's Answer homepage and direct students to the "Register to Vote" icon.  After they register you can have them pledge to vote on the website as well.
   
  2)  Contact your county or local election commission for voter registration forms and set up stands at senior meetings, commons areas during lunch and so on.
   
  3)  Urge teachers to pass out voter registration forms during class.
   
  Have other ideas??  E-mail them and we'll share them with the NLC.
   
  So let's work hard these next few weeks to lay a strong foundation for Freedom's Answer in the fall.
• What you can do: Sign up your school, sign up your school. Visit www.freedomsanswer.org, download the info you need, and bring it along to your principal. Your school isn't officially part of the program until you get your principal's ok and sign up online.
   
  So you aren't collecting voter pledges till September... So work to register every single senior in your school before they graduate. It's as easy as visiting www.freedomsanswer.org and clicking on "Register to Vote" at the right. You can download the info you need to get every 18-year-old in your school ready to get to the polls in November. And keep us updated - to tell us how many you've registered where you live.
• It's a home run! We're sending Freedom's Answer speakers across the country from April until August to recruit 150,000+ kids to join our team. So last week, we asked you to join our Home Base Team to spend some time following up with the awesome kids we're meeting.  Within a few hours, a pile of you had already stepped up to the plate.  Within a few days, almost 40 of you were on board and ready to roll.
• We're putting together a team of kids- our Homebase Team- that is going to be keeping track of all these kids we recruit.  We'll send you names and contact information once we get home from conventions and you'll get these new crazy Freedom's Answer kids ready to roll.
• With the new tool from votenet.com on the Freedom's Answer website, it is now simple and easy for schools to register high school seniors to vote.
  
  As a Freedom's Answer goal, all high school seniors should be registered to vote by the time they graduate. Thus, this new tool will help you to start the voter registration process. CHECK IT OUT
• We're calling it the Freedom Parade.
  
  In case you hadn't heard, this Sunday, March 14, Parade Magazine included a section on the "If I were President..." Contest that Freedom's Answer sponsored last fall. That means that yesterday morning, we reached 38 million American households with the message that America's high school students- that's you- are going to make some history this November.
  
  Check out page 16 in most publications (in some issues you'll find the section,called "Fresh Voices" on page 20). And do something about it.
  
  The Parade article is your chance to recruit that principal you've been waiting on. Take it, and some of the Freedom's Answer flyers you can download at www.freedomsanswer.org <> , to your principal and ask them to
  log on to the website to sign up your school. Or go one step further and show it to your friends and teachers to get them involved. Parade is a name they'll recognize- and 38 million American households just can't
  be wrong.
  
  See the parade article online
• Sign up schools with Freedom’s Answer by going to schoolsignup.php
  
  You're all really flying. But I think we can one-up ourselves.
  
  Who’s up for some history? (Making history, that is). My money’s on all of you, because we’re challenging you to do it- by this Friday. Because if a group could ever make it happen, you would be it.
  
  And it’s easy to do. All you have to do is Find 5. That is, find 5 schools and sign them up on www.freedomsanswer.org <> as a Freedom’s Answer School. Call one principal or student activities advisor each day this week and get their permission to sign them up on the site (that way you’ll know that it’s been done). Promises don’t count. To be a Freedom’s Answer school, and to count as one of your five for the week, the school has to register on the site. Just visit www.freedomsanswer.org <> and look under “Sign Up Your School.” If principals have questions, you can send them the link or fax them the info from this page.
  
  In less than five days, we’ll have added over 650 schools to the program. Yep, you heard right. In less than five days. Once we have enough schools to kick it off, we can start a massive push with the NLC. But it has to begin with us first.
  
  I signed up my first school this morning (Corning East High School in New York). And I’m about ready to pick up the phone and talk with Mrs. Faulkner about an hour away in Odessa.
  
  And just to sweeten the deal. Doug won’t know about it until he reads this email, but the person who is first to sign up 5 schools and the person who has signed up the most by Friday will each win a special memento to always remember our dear Mr. Bailey by.
  
  We came storming home a few weeks ago, ready to rock the world. Find Five by Friday and we’re on our way.
  
  You’ll hear from us again tomorrow- but 650, here we come!
• Please remember that if your school did not sign up on Freedom's Answer Website, then you are not a signed up school! Here are some common thoughts:
  1. My school already signed up in 2002, therefore my school is already signed up.
  Answer: No! Your school must sign up again for 2004.
  2. My school does a lot for Freedom's Answer, so I don't need to sign up.
  Answer: No! Unless you officially sign up on the website, your school is not officially an FA School.
  
  Bottom line: Please sign up your school! If you are not sure, check out the signed up schools list on the NLC Extranet.
• Please send the following information to and we will be sure it gets to the right people.
  
  1. E-mail a brief write-up or outline of the state plan you were putting together at the Summit!
  
  2. Tell us what happened in any Senate or Congressional meetings you had. With whom did you meet? What did you ask for? What was their response?
  
  3. Let us know what plans your state leadership team had adopted to enter material on the www.freedomsanswer.net blog every week
  
  4. E-mail us the name of the Freedom's Answer Webmaster you have appointed for the site -- to put up and maintain your State page.
  
  5. E-mail us with the date and time of your first State Advisory Council Conference call.
  
  We are hoping to hear from you right away.
  There are lots to do.
  Lets get at it.
  Thanks!
• The National Freedom's Answer Summit is less than a week away!! At the summit, along with many other events, we will be voting on national resolutions to help decide how we will undertake certain national projects as a program. This is where we need your help. We have selected 6 main national goals we would like to have voted upon at the summit. These goals are:
  
  1) 10,000 Freedom's Answer high schools signed up
  2) 2.5 million participating students, each seeking 10 voting pledges
  3) All pledgors getting a reminder on election Eve.
  4) A Freedom's Answer Student as a poll worker in every polling place in a state that permits it by law.
  5) A Freedom's Answer Student outside every polling place in America to thank every voter for caring enough to vote.
  6) Setting an all-time record for the number of people turning out to vote, in any American election ever.
  
  We need students to write proposals explaining why we should promote these goals on the local, state, and national levels. Attached to this e-mail is an example of a proposal for one of these goals along with a proposal form you can use to write your own. This is a great way to represent your school, your state, and your organization. Also, if you have an idea for Freedom's Answer that is not listed above send us a proposal for your idea. We want to hear them!!
  
  Proposals need to be in by 3:00 EST on Jan. 24 to be considered.
  
  Thanks so much and we look forward to reading them!!!
  
  Allen Klump
  NAC Rep. for YMCA Youth in Government
  
  
  
• The Freedom's Answer Summit is just around the corner and we have a few more open spaces for various states. If you are a person really interested in attending this three day summit filled with resolution writing, state planning, and collaboration...Please contact for more information. We are hoping to have a successful summit with your participation and help.
• Only 10 months until all of our work will pay off.... as we will break the largest voter turn-out record in a Presidential election year! But first, take time out of your schedule and sign your school and 5 others on our website, and become a Freedom's Answer mover and shaker!
• Thank you to everyone that entered the "If I Were President" competition. Hopefully this has inspired you to understand various issues that our nation is currently facing. Remember, "Only you can bring change" by participating in our government. So join the Freedom's Answer movement and help us break the voter turnout in a Presidential Election year!
• If you haven't noticed you only have a few days to enter the If I Were President Contest! The deadline is December 12, 2003, so hurry now and turn in your essays, pictures, music entires, or anything that pops into your mind for a chance to win a $1000 scholarship. For more information look for the "If I Were President Contest" link on our homepage.
• School Sign-Ups!: It’s as easy as getting on www.freedomsanswer.org and showing your principal about the program. If every NLC member makes their school a Freedom’s Answer School, we’ll be at over 3,000 high schools in a single week. Here’s the plan-
     
  
  1. Sign up your school (with permission from your principal) at www.freedomsanswer.org.
  
  2.The Freedos Answer 21,000 High School Project has officially kicked off. Also, don't forget to get your school signed up for Freedom's Answer after approval from your Principal.
• Sign up your school. With your principal’s permission, sign up your school as a Freedom’s Answer school. You can designate yourself, another student, or an adult in your building as the Freedom’s Answer coordinator. It takes two seconds, and will make your school an “official” part of the program.
  
  
• Operation O: What is Operation O? It is our storm on national media. First target – The Oprah Winfrey Show, with a viewership of 22 million parents, teachers, and stockholders. What do we want? Some ATTENTION; some airtime; Oprah Winfrey putting her million dollar name behind u$. For more information see the Action Blog.
  
  
• The "If I Were President" Contest officially kicked off! Get 5 of your close friends to participate within this contest who are in the grades 9-12, and they will have a chance to win a $1000 scholarship! Remember, entries can be submitted in any form, so "think big."