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Central New Yorkers will have an opportunity Wednesday to discuss with White House and U.S. Department of Education officials matters of concern to young Americans and see examples of successful civic engagement by young people in the community. The White House Young America Series: Live From Syracuse University event takes place from 6-9 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3 on the SU campus.

It will be webcast live at . Through pre-registration, seating in the auditorium is at capacity; however, some seats may become available for walk-ins at the time of the event, and an overflow seating area with a live feed will be set up at the upper entrance of the auditorium, near the Food.com dining facility.

Victoria McCullough, assistant to the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, and Samuel Ryan, regional & youth outreach associate with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Communications and Outreach, will participate in the event, along with students and faculty from SU and Cornell University, and two students from Syracuse’s Nottingham High School.

Woven into the program are three theme areas—inclusive urban education; environmental sustainability; and arts and humanities as catalysts for change—that are especially pertinent to Syracuse and Cornell, which are sponsors of the event along with , the White House Office of Public Engagement and the U.S. Department of Education.

Event organizers hope those attending in person or participating online will leave the discussion with a new understanding of how true engagement—from volunteering, being a student leader and investing time and energy into a community or cause—can enable a generation to enact community and global change.

Among the event’s highlights will be an audience open dialogue session facilitated by McCullough, Cornell University Student Assembly President Natalie Raps and SU Student Association President Dylan Lustig.

Central New York resident and McGill University senior Nida Nizam will moderate a panel discussion, “Solutions.” Panelists are Cornell junior Ankur Bajaj; Nottingham High School sophomores Semaj and Symone Campbell; Nilus Klingel, an SU Engagement Fellow and master’s student in SU’s School of Architecture; McCullough; and Marion Wilson, associate professor in SU’s School of Education and the driving force behind two innovative local community arts projects—the Mobile Literacy Arts Bus (MLAB) and 601 Tully.

Also featured will be performances by two accomplished spoken word poets: SU first-year student Christian Eatman and Cornell junior Meril Pothen. And details will be announced of a special video contest, “” organized by SU and Imagining America. The full event program—as well as short bios of the participants and a live Twitter stream (follow the hashtag #WHatSU)—is available at .

The White House Young America Series is occurring on 17 college and university campuses across the country. The series is designed to connect White House Administration officials with issues facing young adults and the student-driven ideas and solutions for enacting change.

Follow the White House Young America Series: Live From Syracuse University on Facebook: .