Providence’s Libertas Scholars Program introduces students to writers and ideas that have shaped our world. As the world drifts towards ever-expanding government solutions to problems (which are, more often than not, created by the very same government), students become ready to apply their humanities backgrounds and economic skills to critique ill-advised approaches to modern challenges and suggest constructive ideas of their own.
Travel to conferences
Last summer, the Libertas group traveled to Rapid City, South Dakota, for their first experience with FreedomFest, a national conference organized by economist Mark Skousen. It was a wonderful experience, rich with speakers and lively debates.
As another summer approaches, so does a return to FreedomFest, this year in Las Vegas July 13-16. With a lineup including comedian and actor John Cleese, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Forbes editor Steve Forbes, former presidential economics advisors Art Laffer and Stephen Moore, actor Ben Stein, writer Eric Metaxas, “Words and Numbers” podcaster James Harrigan, and Senator Rand Paul, this year’s FreedomFest offers a select group of Providence Libertas Scholars plenty of intellectual food for thought. Students will have many options at a buffet of over 200 speakers, movie shorts, debates, and discussions.
Participating in community events
As everything opened up this April, a group of Libertas Scholars attended the Reagan Ranch Center’s Ronald Reagan birthday bash with Dennis Quaid; a few weeks later, ten students took in a fact-filled defense of school choice by Corey DeAngelis at a YAF luncheon.
Honors scholarship
All Libertas Scholars have been engaged in reading, discussing, and writing about a series of books during the year, including (but not limited to!) Silence, by Shusaku Endo, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Jay Richards’ Money, Greed, and God, and Henry Hazlitt’s classic Economics in One Lesson. These four books taught students about the persecution of Christians in medieval Japan, life in a Soviet gulag, a Christian defense of free markets, and Hazlitt’s one simple lesson of economics, applied to a plethora of examples, written 70 years ago but just as relevant today.
Looking ahead
As Mr. Jamie DeVries transitions to head this program during the 2022-23 school year, we anticipate a host of opportunities for students to learn how a deep understanding of the ideas of our Founders, combined with robust entrepreneurship, will help Providence students continue to vigorously promote human flourishing.
