SEAT at the Table

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SEAT at the Table

Students Engaged in Advancing Texas is a movement of youth demonstrating visibility in policymaking

06/18/2026

Monday - say you’ll be at the State Board of Education 👀🗣️🪑

06/17/2026

📰 : For Adrian, the decision to sue was fraught. He would graduate in May. But that did nothing for the LGBTQ+ students younger than him. So, in September, he decided to fight not only for himself, but for the thousands of Texas teens affected by SB 12, and joined the ACLU’s lawsuit with two other plaintiffs, both of whom used pseudonyms.

Meanwhile, students around the state were reaching the same conclusion — that their only option was to fight — not only about SB 12, but about other laws and policies that impacted their classmates.

Like Adrian, students in Bastrop ISD, in a small town east of Austin, arrived at school in August to find banished clubs, disappeared pride flags, and even gaps in the curriculum where feminist history and world religions should have been. The Mental Health Fair was cancelled and Radiant Hearts, a student-run organization that passes out hygiene products to “erase period poverty” was not allowed to pass out pads or tampons in communal spaces anymore.

Throughout the fall, Bailey Calderon watched as her classmates struggled to adapt. Calderon is straight and Catholic, but the injustice and the general sense of discouragement among the student body made her feel like fighting back on behalf of others was “what Jesus would have done,” she said.

She spoke at school board meetings, joined a statewide student activism organization called Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, and joined Democratic lawmaker James Talarico’s Senate campaign as a student organizer to “show students they have a voice and it actually matters,” she said.

“No matter how repressive state laws may be, many students are building community among their peers. They are advocating for their rights at school board meetings and remaining unapologetic and resilient,” said Cameron Samuels, executive director of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, an organizing group and one of the plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit.

06/11/2026

From Texas to Capitol Hill, SEAT convened eleven students for a weeklong advocacy trip for mental health, su***de prevention, social media accountability, public school funding, and civil rights 🪑🎒📝

In addition to 300+ visits to offices, we met with members of Congress, including Yassamin Ansari, Don Beyer, Katie Britt, Troy Carter, John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, Maxwell Frost, Adelita Grijalva, Wesley Hunt, Christian Menefee, Alex Padilla, and Nancy Pelosi.

We hosted a Congressional staff briefing, community reception, documentary screening, night tour of the memorials, and a dinner with Mary Beth Tinker, the namesake of our federal policy fellowship.

As the nation’s 250 year anniversary approaches, we are making sure our policymakers know that students deserve a seat at the table 🪑🗣️

06/10/2026

Between the pages, you’ll discover students advocating for public education, civil rights, and multicultural democracy. As a student-led movement elevating youth voices in policymaking, SEAT is authoring history and changing the world.

As we gear up for the next Texas legislative session, we need your support in fueling SEAT’s statewide leadership programs and robust organizing networks that will help young Texans shape the future we wish to live in.

On Saturday, June 20, join us at the Austin Public Library to celebrate the youngest generation of civic leaders. You’ll get to meet and hear from notable community leaders, enjoy a buffet-style dinner, and snag some swag.

RSVP and/or make a contribution at LINK IN BIO 🔗 https://studentsengaged.org/betweenpages

Students get free tix! DM for a code 👀

06/09/2026

five days on capitol hill 🪑💜✨

06/07/2026

One month ago, we began mourning the death of our beloved universities. The death of academic freedom is heartbreaking, and it’s what we attribute to a thousand cuts against our institutions once considered the guardian genius of democracy 💔

Hundreds of people joined us to grieve censorship and the loss of academic programs in Lubbock, Austin, and DFW. Students and faculty are losing ethnic and gender studies departments, prohibited from researching topics related to race and gender, and being suspended or arrested for free speech and expression.

With a horse-drawn carriage, funeral attire, and an urn memorializing the ashes of burned books and syllabi, we held our universities close to our hearts and sent a clear message to the Board of Regents: we will not be silenced 🪑🗣️

06/01/2026

Between the pages, you’ll discover students advocating for public education, civil rights, and multicultural democracy. As a student-led movement elevating youth voices in policymaking, SEAT is authoring history and changing the world.

As we gear up for the next Texas legislative session, we need your support in fueling SEAT’s statewide leadership programs and robust organizing networks that will help young Texans shape the future we wish to live in.

On Saturday, June 20, join us at the Austin Public Library to celebrate the youngest generation of civic leaders. You’ll get to meet and hear from notable community leaders, enjoy a buffet-style dinner, and snag some swag.

Get your tickets at studentsengaged.org/betweenpages 🔗

05/29/2026

Proclaiming the death of Texas Tech University and its spirit of academic freedom is not taken lightly, but its time has come, and we mourn what we have lost.

This year, Texas Tech has dismantled higher education. Censor Brandon Creighton, who leads the university system, has targeted free speech and expression on campuses. Programs have closed, research topics have been banned, and more has been placed on the chopping block - all because of the cowardice of the regents appointed by Governor Abbott.

As we mourn the death by a thousand cuts of academic freedom, organized a funeral at Texas Tech and other schools this month. Swipe through to see photos by .dayton, and send your condolences to the ballot box by pledging to vote: seatx.org/action/pledge-texas-tech 🔗

05/28/2026

SEAT is excited to bring 10+ students to Capitol Hill next week for a five-day advocacy trip on youth mental health, school equity, and youth representation in education policymaking 🪑💜📣

SEAT’s federal policy fellowship is named in honor of Mary Beth Tinker, a longtime students’ rights advocate whose Supreme Court case helped affirm that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Mary Beth Tinker will be joining us for a special evening reception on Wednesday, June 3, alongside Congressman Christian Menefee and Americans United’s Rachel Laser. Can you join us? More details and RSVP at seatx.org/onthehill 🔗

Address

110 Inner Campus Drive
Austin, TX
78705

Website

http://studentsengaged.org/

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