"It's not what you believe, but how you express what you believe."
Our Journey
To begin our process, we looked to start a chapter with the organization BridgeUSA, which equipped us with tools to moderate and organize discussions. We went through a leadership training to learn how to organize and promote discussions as well as facilitate civil discussions and resolve conflicts. After the initial leadership training, we were assigned a mentor who himself ran a chapter at the college level. Our mentor, Jacoby, provided guidance on specific discussion topics.
The core principal for discussions is to debate or attack ideas instead of the person presenting them. We immediately began discussing contentious topics, as our first discussion was on the election and specific policy choices and our second was abortion. These discussions were insightful and interesting for all parties involved, testimonials can be found in the sight menu.
Using BridgeUSA’s norms of discussions, we were able to keep our discussions respectful and productive almost all the time. We tried to maintain viewpoint diversity by extending invitations to a wide range of kids. A big benefit of these discussions is to find an easy space to discuss politics outside the unintentional echo-chambers that may be manufacture in school communities.
The most important part of designing a discussion is framing the questions in the right ways. Our discussions most often targeted the broadest questions in American politics, namely the 2024 Presidential Election and its aftermath. Although it may seem that there are unlimited questions and perspectives on the election, designing targeted and specific guidance questions that favor neither side of the political spectrum is the key aspect to respectful discussions.
The most innovative use of the out-of-school and virtual format was our election watch party. Since our schools are day schools, this would have been tough to coordinate as an in-school club, but, with our format of discussion, it was perfectly integrated into our meeting schedule.
In March, we were informed that BridgeUSA would be discontinuing their high-school program. Although we appreciated the organization and enjoyed our time working with them, the discontinuation was an opportunity to branch out and form the Agora Project. Starting the Agora Project allowed us to tailor the specifics towards our wants and needs, which include expanding across many schools across the country.
The topics and details of our discussions from this past year can be found here.
Nick
Hi, I’m Nick, and I’m 17 years old. When I was ten years old, I moved from suburban Boston to Vero Beach, Florida. Florida and Boston are quite different, both culturally and politically. Each of these places, however, is politically homogeneous. Because these environments are so closed off, our chapter presented an opportunity to learn and understand differing perspectives. Understanding and acknowledging new perspectives not only broadens one’s horizons but also strengthens one’s own beliefs.
Sam and I connected over this shared belief. To combat this homogeneity, we started a BridgeUSA chapter that joined our two schools over Zoom, his in NYC and mine in Vero Beach. Through junior and senior year, we have facilitated courageous conversations every three weeks. We have hosted discussions on abortion, the 2024 election, gun rights, and more; everyone is aware of the conversation topic beforehand, and it is always a topic that all attendees hold strong opinions about. In May 2025, BridgeUSA announced it would be ending high school support, but we knew we wanted to continue our mission, and out of that, the Agora Project was born.
Sam
I grew up in New York City and have lived here my entire life. While I love my city and the people here, I have always wanted to understand and get to know people from across the country and globe. The concept of an online political discourse group first came to my mind before I began any serious involvement with political extracurriculars. At first, the logistics of such a program seemed daunting. Most of my friends outside of New York City resided in other large cities, such as Boston. Thus, the political divide seemed minimal, at most.
My first steps into the realm of political discourse came with the organization Building Bridges, which effectively accomplished the same goals as BridgeUSA, just with a more formal classroom setup of eighth graders. There, I saw the mechanisms through which such a program as BridgeUSA could be run, and I gained experience and knowledge through dialogue with the students and teachers.
Being introduced to Nick was a transformative moment in my journey towards this idea, as we decided to co-found the Agora Project.
