The topics at a recent public speaking event at the University of Delaware were serious: drug addiction, Islamophobia and transphobia, cyberbullying, the crisis in Gaza and teen suicide. The impassioned speakers used data to explain the issues and included a specific idea about how to help. While they presented their speeches like educated voters, none of the speakers were old enough to cast a ballot, much less drive a car.

The speakers were six of the nearly 100 students from New Castle County middle and high schools who participated in the Delaware version of Project Soapbox, an event sponsored by the national nonprofit organization MIKVA Challenge. Hosted by UD’s Department of Political Science and International Relations, Project Soapbox gives students an opportunity to speak out about issues that impact them and their communities, and to build the confidence to continue talking about them. 

Students first gave their speeches to small groups, and the six finalists were selected to present to the entire group and community leaders. State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton, State Rep. Michael Smith and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiana Sampson gave the students valuable feedback.   

David Redlawsk, department chair and James R. Soles Professor of Political Science, was instrumental in bringing Project Soapbox to UD. This is the second year the event has been held on campus.

“I am so impressed by the confidence they have developed at such young ages to speak on issues that are often highly personal and often seem intractable,” Redlawsk said. “These young people think deeply about their concerns and express ideas that need to be listened to.”

Kaden Lyons, a sophomore at Glasgow High School, spoke from the heart about the impact of drug addiction. Lyons told the audience that when she was eight years old she said goodbye to her mother one day and never heard from her again. Five years later she found out her mother had died from an overdose.

“Don’t think for a minute that incidents like these are rare,” Lyons said. “I can guarantee there are more people than you would expect who are in this room who can recognize that.”

Zoya Hussaini, a seventh grader at Cantwell’s Bridge Middle School, talked about the dramatic rise in hate crimes and hate speech directed at Muslim Americans in 2023. She said she had been ridiculed and called a “bomber and terrorist.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” she said. “I call on you to make a Muslim friend. Making a difference starts with you.”

Simon Ralston McCoy, a seventh grader at Cab Calloway School for the Performing Arts, asked for education and compassion in a powerful speech about transphobia and the effect bullying can have on transgender teens.

“The most impactful thing you can do is to simply acknowledge that being trans is a characteristic, not something that defines someone as a person, not something that makes someone abnormal,” McCoy said. “It’s not a choice. I’m not a freak or less of a person because of my gender identity. And I refuse to grow up in a world that will try and make me feel that I am. A better world is one in which people will choose to learn and to care about each other so that kids like me feel safe and supported.”

Wilson-Anton said she took notes on both the substance and the style of McCoy’s speech, saying they will help her as a government official.

“We’re often trying to come up with ways to be persuasive in our approach to get people to understand where we’re coming from and to agree with us. You did a phenomenal job at that. I think a lot of my colleagues would be jealous of your skills,” she said.

The speeches aren’t the only way the students are voicing their opinions. One group of high school students who began participating in Project Soapbox while in middle school discussed how they are acting on their issues, including using social media, with State Rep. Sherae’a Moore. 

“You all today have put some things on my radar that I will be amplifying,” she said. 

“Every time I attend a Soapbox event, whether here in Delaware or elsewhere, I come away far more optimistic about the future,” Redlawsk said. “Given the opportunity to use their voices, they do so very effectively. This says a lot about the students and their teachers.”

Redlawsk hopes future Soapbox events will expand beyond New Castle County schools so “Delaware youth throughout the state have this amazing opportunity. It will take some work and finding funding to make that happen, but I really hope it will.”