Conservative Students Meet At YAF Leadership Conference On October 24 and 25, Young America's Foundation hosted an event unparalleled on the West Coast. Young America's Foundation's West Coast Leadership Conference, now in its 4th year, was held in Santa Barbara, Calif. Over 400 students gathered from across the nation to hear conservative leaders committed to helping them balance their lopsided education. This conference is the largest gathering of conservative students in the country that takes place during the crucial fall semester. In all, 84 different high school and college campuses were represented at this year's conference. The conference also included members of the foundation's influential President's Club, the group of committed supporters who make such exciting programs possible. Their numbers pushed total conference participation to over 550 people. The West Coast Leadership Conference opened with a banquet featuring University of California Regent and equal opportunity advocate Ward Connerly, who encouraged students to make a bold stand against racial preferences by frustrating and confounding bureaucrats collecting race-related data. Anyone born in this country, Connerly pointed out, has the right to claim to be a "Native American." Saturday's events included speeches by Michael Reagan—President Reagan's son and nationally syndicated radio talk show host—Ron Robinson, president of Young America's Foundation; Peter Robinson, Reagan Administration speechwriter and author of the new book How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life; Lionel Chetwynd, award-winning writer and producer of the recent Showtime docudrama DC 9/11: Time of Crisis; and Melanie Morgan, San Francisco's KSFO radio talk show host. A special luncheon banquet Saturday featured California state senator and recent gubernatorial candidate Tom McClintock. Several unique opportunities marked this year's conference. Young America's Foundation worked with Showtime to arrange an exclusive screening of DC 9/11 for the students in attendance, which fittingly took place in the hotel's "Reagan Room." This thoroughly researched, fact-based account of the Bush Administration's actions during the nine days surrounding the September 11th terrorist attacks paints a picture of presidential leadership not regularly acknowledged in the mainstream press. A training seminar, limited to top activists, provided students with the opportunity to discover the secrets of becoming a more effective voice for conservative ideas on their own campus. "It opened my eyes to all the activities that I can create at home," said one student attendee. "Conferences such as this one bring an amazing awareness of the incomplete and crude education we are getting on our campuses," Katherine Silva, a student at Oregon State University, remarked. "It is so important that the conservative youth in America stand together and stand for the undying truths and freedom this country was founded upon—which are coming under such abhorrent attacks. I thank Young America's Foundation, and its supporters, for this privilege." The West Coast Leadership Conference is one of many conferences sponsored by Young America's Foundation throughout the year. Young America's Foundation is an educational organization promoting conservative ideas on our nation's campuses through lectures, publications, and conferences. This past academic year, the foundation sponsored over 300 lectures, including addresses by Walter Williams, Ann Coulter, Ben Stein and John Stossel. In addition, Young America's Foundation has preserved President Reagan's Western White House—Rancho del Cielo in Santa Barbara, Calif.—to serve as the centerpiece of its Reagan Ranch Program. For additional information on forthcoming West Coast Leadership Conferences or on Young America's Foundation, visit the YAF website: www.yaf.org. WWII Veterans Committee Holds Annual Conference On November 6-8, the World War II Veterans Committee held their 6th annual conference and awards banquet at the Radisson Hotel in Old Town Alexandria, Va. This year's conference began with a wreath laying ceremony at the Navy Memorial, ND Evensong and reception at the Church of the Epiphany. The conference program at the Radisson Hotel included Welcoming remarks by James C. Roberts, president and founder of the World War II Veterans Committee; a moment of remembrance honoring World War II by Carmella LaSpada, Executive Director, White Commission on Remembrance; keynote address by Gen. Andrew Goodpaster, former Supreme Allied Commander, NATO; D-Day panel discussion by distinguished veterans of World War II; a report by Hunter Scott, World War II Veterans Committee National Youth Spokesman, on obtaining justice for the crew of the USS Indianapolis; lectures on the Battle of Midway, Battle of the Bulge; Women in World War II; Interrogating Nazi war criminals, the leadership of Winston Churchill, Women in World War II; addresses by Adm. Thomas Moorer on Pearl Harbor and the war in the Pacific and by former Indiana Gov. Edgar Whitcomb, a Japanese POW on Bataan and Corregidor. The conference included a trip to Mt. Vernon and a swing dance hosted by "Reveille with Beverly" Jean Hay and memorial wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery. For additional information contact the World War II Veterans Committee website: www.wwiivets.com/home.htm or offices at: 1030 15th St. N.W., Suite 856, Washington, D.C. 20005; phone 202-777-7272 or fax: 202-408-0624.
