Reality Television Stars Speak on Adoption at Michigan State University

November 29, 2012

EAST LANSING, MI — MSU Students for Life held an incredibly successful event this evening focused on the issue of adoption. Pro-life advocates Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra shared their experience with teen pregnancy. The young couple’s story has been featured on MTV’s popular “Teen Mom” and “16 and Pregnant” reality television programs.

Over 530 college students gathered on a cold Thursday evening – just a week from final exams and the semester’s end. Some eager attendees arrived hours early to guarantee a seat. The lecture hall reached a capacity crowd well in advance of the first speaker introduction.

“It has been amazing to know we [have] inspired others to choose adoption,” said Tyler. Meanwhile, Catelynn “want[s] a big family” with “at least four kids.”

Bethany Christian Services facilitated the fall campus tour. The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Central Michigan University and Grand Valley State University also served as hosts. Around 3,000 college students throughout the Great Lakes State alone were exposed to the pro-adoption message.

To learn more about Catelynn and Tyler, including how to bring them to a campus near you, please visit http://TylerandCatelynn.com/.

Do you tweet? Follow MSU Students for Life (@MSUSFL) right now!

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MSU Students Remember the Victims of 9/11 on Tenth Anniversary

East Lansing, MI – Members of the MSU Campus Conservatives, in partnership with the College Republicans, read aloud the names of each of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks this past Sunday morning. The commemorative two-and-a-half hour event began at 9:00 am near the iconic Farm Lane Rock. 

“It is important for the Michigan State community, on this tenth anniversary of that tragic September morning, to remember the 2,977 innocent victims of the terrorist attacks. We must never forget our fallen heroes, from the brave passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 to the Ground Zero first-responders,” said Nicholas Kowalski, Chairman of the MSU Campus Conservatives. “The least we can do is pay our respects and make certain that our peers, and the ensuing generations, learn of this unfortunate act of terror.”

Sunday’s activity followed a string of awareness initiatives throughout the student community. On Thursday night, the College Republicans painted the Rock red, white, and blue, along with the phrase “Never Forget September 11, 2001”. A formal gathering ensued Friday afternoon with the singing of the national anthem by Liz Meyer, vocal performer and recent MSU graduate.

Patrick Williams, a third-year Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy major, participated in the weekend 9/11 memorial activity. “As we move forward from these events, people must take the time to reflect and honor those who perished in the attacks,” Patrick explained. When asked about the impact of the student remembrance activities, Patrick acknowledged that “[t]he events at the Rock – where we were able to read off each person’s name – gives us a greater understanding of just how many families were affected that day.”

Students from coast to coast held pro-American tributes in conjunction with Young America’s Foundation, an organization focused on youth activism. Started in 2003 because “most college campuses were either completely ignoring the anniversary or holding a politically correct event instead,” this nation-wide effort has been a remarkable success.

MSU Campus Conservatives, a student-run group, seeks to spread an awareness of conservative ideas throughout the student body and across Spartan Country. For more information, contact Nicholas Kowalski at Nicholas.Kowalski@rocketmail.com or on Twitter @NKowalski.

Young America’s Foundation (www.yaf.org) is committed to ensuring that increasing numbers of young Americans understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values.

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CPAC 2011: “Student Activism Panel” Speech

 

At CPAC 2011, I was honored to share my experience in the conservative movement. As apart of Friday’s “Student Activism Panel,” I gave a brief speech. Below is the text of my oration. Feel free to share with fellow conservatives, and let me know your thoughts. Thank you!

 

Surprise! Conservatives actually exist at that bastion of liberalism known as Michigan State University. You may recognize the Spartan logo from atop the head of the hefty lefty film producer, Michael Moore.

I stand before you because of my passion for common sense ideals, such as free-market economics, family values, and personal sovereignty. This past fall, I waged a spirited campaign for County Commissioner against a left-wing career politician. The duel was between a blonde-haired-blue-eyed undergraduate – yours truly – and a still-living-the-dream hippie who had first been elected way back in 1976. (That’s correct; he was on the same ballot as Jimmy Carter!) Though we lost the battle at the polls, we won the war in terms of sparking campus awareness for the conservative cause. For instance, I wound up with a front-page article in the school newspaper that reached thousands of students and professors. While liberal indoctrination, questionable treatment of conservative student organizations, and limited free-speech still occur at the public university in East Lansing, the community is arising out of a utopian nostalgia which filled the seats at Spartan Stadium not too long ago.

Traditional and social media, head-turning events, in addition to personal connections and interactions, are all fine tools that can be cultivated to the fullest extent on campus. I believe the impact that an individual, or a group, can have in challenging conventional wisdom is limitless. And don’t just take my word: each activist on this stage, and in the audience and around the country, represents the will of our generation to defend constitutional principles. We have an opportunity to reverse the brain drain, to shape our future and the future of America the exceptional. The time to act is now.

As the Great Communicator, President Ronald Reagan, once proclaimed: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” So let’s inspire authentic ‘hope’ with real ‘change’ at our respective institutions of higher learning – and fast, because with each passing second the federal deficit reaches a new astronomical high.

If you share my feelings toward Michael Moore, please follow my tweets at NKowalski – that’s spelled N-K-O-W-A-L-S-K-I on Twitter. Thank you and keep up the fight for what’s right!

 

Nick Kowalski is a blogger at The Other Side and can be contacted via email (Nicholas.Kowalski@rocketmail.com) and on Twitter (@NKowalski).