Media
Foundation News, Events, and Press Releases
Recent News
10.26.09 | Adventures of the Mind conference brings students and inspiring personalities together
Held every two years, Adventures of the Mind is a three day conference that affords exceptional high school students the opportunity to meet and interact with approximately 50 renowned artists, athletes, authors, entrepreneurs, Pulitzer Prize winning journalists, politicians, Nobel Prize winning scientists, scholars, and writers of our day. The program, organized by Victoria Gray of Student Achievement and Advocacy Services, gathers approximately 170 students from around the Country to participate in the program.
The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation sponsored 10 Montana students to attend the event: Elizabeth Bierer (Corvallis), Sydnee Burke (Sheridan), Ashlea Duke (Glendive), Sean Foot (Polson), Shannon Gilskey (Lewistown), Kevin Grover (Missoula), Kelsie Hanson (Chinook), Tawney Hughes (Missoula), Ryan Kutter (Stevensville) and Ariel Murtagh (Billings).
This summer, the event was held at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University.
The Institute is one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. Past faculty members have included Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer. Student Ali Bierer commented, “It was extremely humbling to be in a room with so many Nobel Prize winners, poets, corporate managers, and even many of the smartest students the U.S. has to offer.”
The program, founded in 2000, aims at inspiring young, promising high school students to maximize their intellectual potential. This year’s theme was “the relativity” of achievement. “Achievement is a team sport, we are connected by the efforts of those who went before us and will come after us,” explains the program’s website.
Sean Foot, a student from Polson said, “[The conference] was an excellent opportunity for me to meet and confer with top leaders not only in my particular interests but also in other areas of study that I may not usually pay attention to.”
Above: Several Montana students smile for the camera in front of a Princeton University building.
Left: Phyllis Washington (far left) with Montana Adventures of the Mind students and volunteers.
