MEDIA RELEASE

Kaili Lambe

WASHINGTON — Kaili Lambe, a student from Hilo, Hawaii, will receive the award for Student Representative of the Year at the 2009 Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, DC on July 8. Lambe, a student at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire, has worked tirelessly as a student leader lobbying on environmental issues at both the campus and national level while promoting feminism with her involvement in campus groups and journalism.

“Kaili’s energy is contagious: last March, she shattered her ambitious goal of bringing 40 students from her school to the Powershift Conference here in D.C. Her group braved heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures to represent their campus at the rally on Capitol Hill,” said Campus Progress Advocacy Associate Tanya Paperny. “The lobbying efforts of Kaili and other Dartmouth students around sustainability have effectively pressured their campus President to reduce carbon emissions through energy-saving renovations.

The annual Campus Progress National Conference has become a central hub for organizing by young progressives. With record youth turnout in the 2008 presidential election, and young people strongly oriented toward progressive views on the issues, this year’s conference will discuss the millennial generation’s opportunity to deliver change and move the country in a progressive direction while developing the ideas, networks, and innovations to meet challenges ahead. On Wednesday, July 8, President Bill Clinton will deliver keynote remarks at the conference. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, White House green jobs adviser Van Jones and “The Daily Show” writer and correspondent John Oliver will also address the gathering. Other conference speakers include Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO Arlene Holt-Baker and Center for American Progress President John Podesta.

The Campus Progress National Conference is flanked by other events: On Tuesday July 7, there will be a Journalism in Action training day for budding young journalists, as well as a Grassroots Training Day run by Campus Camp Wellstone. On Thursday July 9, Campus Progress and The Nation magazine will hold their annual Youth Journalism Conference, which will include remarks by Dahlia Lithwick of Slate, Air America Radio’s Ana Marie Cox, and The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel and Chris Hayes. A Lobby Day co-sponsored by Health Care For America Now, Energy Action Coalition and the Student PIRGs will also be held on July 9, with young people visiting their elected officials to demand action on health care reform, green job creation, and making higher education more affordable.