As political history plays out around them, high school delegates meet in Philadelphia for Young People’s Continental Congress

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As students gather in Philadelphia this week to study the First Continental Congress, they are also trying to digest current history.

With the weekend’s assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump fresh in their minds, students and teachers from the 13 original colonies — Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia — are convening at Carpenters’ Hall for the Young People’s Continental Congress .

The First Continental Congress met in 1774 in Philadelphia —250 years ago — to air grievances with Great Britain, setting the stage for the Declaration of Independence at the Second Continental Congress two years later. This congress is meeting to explore our nation’s history while discussing modern-day issues.

The students acknowledged they were living in historic times of their own.

“I do believe that with all of the conflicts currently going on, this is a very important moment in U.S. history,” said Rouslene Folas, who just graduated from East Orange STEM Academy High School in North Jersey. Her teacher, Tracey Prince, said these history students have been staying on top of the information unfolding about the attempted assassination.

“Just because of the events that happened on Saturday and the fact that we are here learning and studying about the founders of our country, I think that it makes it that much more pivotal,” Prince said.

“We’re still in the surreal phase, I think,” said Zach Barfield, a history teacher from Georgia. “We’re still trying to wrap our minds around the fact that it occurred in the first place.”

Barfield is attending the event with Georgia high school junior Maddie Reardanz, who said the assassination attempt is something they will all remember. “That’s definitely going to make history, and our program is here making history as well,” Reardanz said.

Carpenters’ Hall Executive Director Michael Norris pointed out that students with different backgrounds and perspectives are assembling just as the delegates did in 1774, when they decided to boycott British goods.

“For us, we talk a lot about unity, because what really happened at the First Continental Congress in 1774 was that the colonies came together,” Norris said. “The idea of people with different opinions and from different perspectives and from different kinds of cultures coming together around a common purpose — we need to remember how important that is for our country.”