The National Right to Life Academy: The Summer of a (Pro-)Lifetime.

Summer 2007 marks the inaugural session of the National Right to Life Academy, a new summer program designed to educate and equip college students with the knowledge and skills to effectively work for the pro-life cause.

At the core of the program is the practicum. Students and staff alike agree that that these daily sessions that simulate experiences form the cohesive structure that ties the course together and helps the students to become more effective activists.

As Academy director, Burke Balch's vision is to offer an in-depth curriculum of courses that survey virtually all conceivable subjects related to the pro-life movement. That list includes history, ethics, parliamentary procedure, lessons learned from other social movements, specific legislation, and of course an in-depth look at the various arguments for pro-death proposals, such as assisted suicide, health care rationing, and embryonic stem cell research, and the contrasting evidence supporting pro-life alternatives.

Mr. Balch, the director of NRLC's Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics, models the Academy on the former National Youth Pro-Life Coalition, a training program designed for teens, that flourished in the 1970s and 80s.

Supplementing the course work are lectures by NRLC staff. Veterans of many years in the trenches, they share their expertise on topics including media strategy, outreach to churches, fundraising, and public speaking tips.

Mr. Balch asserts that a comprehensive knowledge of the movement's history is essential to any pro-life activist, so that their energy and enthusiasm are not wasted by going down roads that have already proven to be dead ends or off-course trails.

Daily lessons on the ins-and-outs of parliamentary procedure may be a surprising find in a pro-life course. But NRLC State Legislative Director Mary Spaulding Balch insists on the value of understanding the intricate system of procedural rules.