Written By: Jayna Kendell
THE PERSPECTIVE OF JAYNA KENDELL:
Last week, Turning Point USA hosted its fourth annual High School Leadership Summit in Washington D.C. The organization made history when the summit became the largest conference of high school conservatives ever.
The students attending heard from 80+ speakers and thought leaders of the conservative movement, including Ambassador Nikki Haley; Attorney General Jeff Sessions; Donald Trump Jr; Founder and President of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk; TPUSA’s Communications Director, Candace Owens; Ex-White House Director of Communications, Anthony Scaramucci; and many more
Mikayla and I were roommates at the conference as we knew each other through Twitter going into it. We had two other girls staying with us in our dorm with whom we became very close very fast. All four of us in our room are in agreement that the education we got while in D.C. was unlike anything else. We all learned so much from both the speakers and our fellow Turning Point attendees.
Attending a Turning Point USA conference was unlike any experience I’ve ever had before. As a youth in modern America, it is rather difficult finding other conservative teenagers. Therefore, when you do find somebody like that at school, it's almost as if you become friends instantaneously. But I had no idea that that applied outside of the kids you see every day at school. The same still applies at HSLS.
The first day, before check-in even began, Mikayla and I were standing in the dorm building’s lobby, finally talking in person, and a girl comes up to us and says “My roommates aren’t here yet. Is it okay if I hang out with you guys?” Thus began the wonderful friendship between Mikayla, Maddie, and I.
We had a couple hours before check-in was scheduled to start, so we all decided to stop by Chick-Fil-A to grab something to eat. The first day of knowing her, Maddie bought me lunch and refused to let me pay her back. We argued all day and even texted most of the night because I wanted to buy her the next meal, but she kept refusing. Finally, we came to a compromise, and I bought her coffee that next morning.
That whole argument the first day I met Maddie reminded me of arguments I have at least once a week with my friends in Wisconsin, of whom I've known for years. That was something I didn’t expect going into my first TPUSA conference.
I also met some kids who were at the conference while I was at Reagan International Airport waiting to board my plane to fly home. They were from the Denver area. They were telling me about how awesome the Western Conservative Summit is, and saying how I needed to go sometime soon. One of them even told me he’d help me find a place to stay if I make it out next year. Keep in mind, I had met these kids maybe a half hour before this.
We all traded Snapchats and Instagrams in order to keep in touch, and then it was time for me to board my fight and go home. The comradery between Turning Point students is mind-blowing. The fact that you can know someone for a half hour, and act like you’ve been friends since birth is something extremely special.
Day two of the conference started off pretty rainy. It was almost seven in the morning, and Mikayla, Maddie, and I were about to head to Starbucks when we found out it was raining, and none of us had an umbrella. A boy had just come down the stairs and heard us talking about it. He immediately told us that he was also heading to Starbucks and that we could walk with him if we wanted as he actually had an umbrella. So the boy walked us to Starbucks and waited for us all to get our drinks before walking us to general session under his slightly broken, yellow umbrella.
The chivalry of the high school boys attending the conference was something I’ll never forget, and that will be hard to find in my hometown. If you were a girl at that conference, and there was a boy around, you almost never had to touch a door.
Day three of the conference ended with downpouring rain. Many of us were off to Benny Johnson’s game show night, where TPUSA provided pizza for dinner. Upon realizing how much it was raining, a boy in front of me overheard the conversation between Mikayla and me about how she had a hat and I didn’t. Said boy then turned around and offered me his NRA hat to wear until I got back to the dorm rooms, saying “Just leave it at the front desk when you get back.” Feeling bad, I politely declined, but I really did appreciate the gesture.
On day four, my roommates and I accidentally woke up a little late when our alarms didn’t go off. When we got to the conference there were basically no seats left. I stood there for a minute before a boy got up and came over to me, saying “You can sit there if you want,” and he motioned to the seat he had just gotten up from. I asked him if he was sure, and when he insisted, I sat down.
There were several students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in attendance as well. Charlie Kirk and the rest of Turning Point USA fundraised like crazy to fly every Parkland student interested out to DC for the conference, all expenses paid.
On the fourth day, when Charlie was speaking, he opened it up for questions towards the end. He called on a kid sitting house-right, a couple rows back. The kid stood up and said “I’m from Stoneman Douglas,” and the crowd erupted into applause. Charlie spoke into his mic, over the applause, saying “in an NRA hat.” The crowd got to its feet and cheered even louder. Not one person in that auditorium was sitting.
Although attendees did face some negative comments while at the conference. The first day, we were walking behind some Stoneman Douglas students on our way to the first session. They were all wearing their “#MSDStrong” shirts. My friends and I overheard a woman walking by mutter “They’re just going to create more school shooters,” when she saw the shirts.
Another comment was made when one of my roommates got to the conference early one morning so she could get good seats. She was the only student there, and the only other person at the doors was an NBC reporter waiting to be let in. They got to talking, and I guess he just figured she was there with the press as well, because when one of the guy’s buddies showed up she overheard them calling Attorney General Jeff Sessions a “Nazi” and all the students attending “idiots,” and that someone should just “shoot them all.” There was also a man on Twitter who posted a picture of himself holding a bat covered in barbed wire saying he was going to “Greet the conservative teenagers.” His account was suspended that day.
Several media outlets covered the conference, with notable articles put out by The New York Times including A Place Where Conservative Teenagers Feel Free to Be Themselves and ‘I’m Not the Only Young Conservative.’
CNN also covered the conference, putting out an article about how Attorney General Jeff Sessions “repeats ‘lock her up’ chant.” CNN was in the back of the room, covering the dinner at Trump International Hotel where notable speakers like Senator Rand Paul, Judge Jeanine Pirro, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Donald Trump Jr. spoke to the students who were willing and able to pay a little extra money to attend (those students who didn’t attend the dinner got a tour of Washington D.C.).
Candace Owens took the stage early on in the dinner to talk a little bit, saying “I know we have CNN in the back. You guys are fake news,” to thunderous applause and cheers from the audience. When the cheers died down a bit, she continued, saying “I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.” More cheering ensued. I remember looking back at the CNN reporters at the back of the room and seeing a mix of shock and outrage on all of their faces. Needless to say, I have yet to see anything about the dinner on CNN’s website.
High School Leadership Summit was one of the best experiences of my life thus far, and I think that every young conservative, whether they’re in high school or college, should try to make it to a Turning Point USA conference. They are truly life-changing.
For six years straight I was dead set on being an actress, Broadway or Hollywood, it didn’t matter. But towards the end of this last school year, politics started clicking with me. I had always been interested in it, but this was different. So, I started my own chapter as my dreams started to change. Attending High School Leadership Summit helped solidify to myself that there is a higher power calling me to advance the conservative movement. How I’m going to do this, I don’t know yet. But I’ll take it one step at a time, and with God’s help, my path will be made clear to me.
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