Though colleges were not in session, CFACT Collegians staff stayed busy this summer. National Director Nate Myers and National Field Coordinator Emma Arns designed a Roman Warm Period booth for Turning Point USA’s Chapter Leadership Summit (CLS) in Washington, D.C., July 9–12, and Young Americans for Liberty’s YALCON in Cincinnati, July 28–30.
The table was built to stop students in their tracks. A ruin-and-cypress backdrop framed olive wreaths, a cornucopia of fruit, miniature busts, chocolate gold coins, and goblets of sparkling grape juice poured as “wine.” Myers and Arns donned togas and worked the aisle. A headless centurion cutout gave students the perfect photo op. Flyers and stickers went out with the drinks, including a Roman Warm Period handout and a sticker that read, “Caesar Didn’t Drive an SUV—Climate Change Has a History.” CFACT’s pull-up banner promoted the perks and benefits of joining CFACT Collegians to students traversing crowded walkways through the rows of booths.
The décor was the hook. The climate history lesson was the point. Mild warming is not a twenty-first-century invention. In the Roman Warm Period, warmer conditions came with calmer weather, higher crop yields, and expanded trade. Students who came for a goblet stayed for a discussion classrooms never host: climate change has a past, and most of it occurred long before the Industrial Revolution.
Hundreds of young conservatives and libertarians — thousands, counting the traffic through both halls — stopped to talk. Almost all were friendly to CFACT’s climate and energy message. At CLS, film crews lingered at the table while Myers and Arns worked the crowd and gathered content for promotional material.
Interest became a roster. More than 120 students signed up for CFACT’s collegiate program across the two conferences. From that pool, CFACT hired nearly 40 promising new campus representatives for the coming semester. With more hires coming in by other means, this fall semester is shaping up to be our best yet.
“Our booth was the talk of both conferences,” Myers said. “I can confidently say we had the most colorful, striking booth on the floor. Students’ eyes lit up when they saw us, and they were instantly drawn in by the Roman aesthetics.”
The off-season did not end in Cincinnati. On September 3, seven CFACT students joined several hundred guests at The Heartland Institute’s benefit dinner at the beautiful Palmer House Hotel in downtown Chicago. The night mixed fine dining with keynotes from Kevin Sorbo, economist Tom Woods, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (our students pictured with him at the top!), providing our students with invaluable inspiration and insight. The night also served as a prime example of CFACT Collegians’ versatility; they proved themselves to be as apt at navigating the social decorum of a ballroom as they are at coordinating policy-focused events on college campuses.
The togas are packed away. The goblets are washed. The argument now moves back to campus: climate has a revealing history, and CFACT intends to keep telling it.