Club coaches students on current events

By Michael Ittu, For The Miami Student

With all the notable conflicts occurring throughout the world- whether it be issues abroad, such as the violent acts of ISIS, or domestic concerns, such as the economic inequality of American citizens - students are finding it increasingly difficult to stay up-to-date with the current headlines. This is where the Alexander Hamilton Society steps in.

The Alexander Hamilton Society (AHS), a non-partisan organization, operates on the basis of discussing current political, economic and popular issues happening in the world.

"Alexander Hamilton Society works hard to promote discussion among its members on different issues that affect our world today," Aly Miller, founder and president of the Miami Chapter of AHS, said.

AHS was first introduced to Miami in 2010, but dispersed after problems arose in continuing the executive branch of the society.

Because of that history, the current executive team has emphasized the idea of continuing the club for future generations of students.

"What we hope to do differently this time is to really create a sustainable chapter through word of mouth and great self-promotion and marketing," Miller said.

Through this process of promoting the club, the executive team made efforts to attract students of all majors in order to build a solid base for the organization.

"We distributed fliers about the Open House in multiple different buildings to attract students from all backgrounds," Abby Burke, re-founding member and vice president of the Miami Chapter of AHS, said.

Though the organization may seem geared more toward students interested in politics and government, the goal of the society is to welcome a diverse group of students interested in a wide variety of issues facing the world today.

"AHS is for everyone, not just one specific major, as some organizations similar to us are set up," Burke said. "We want to put on forums and debates that are interesting to all people, with all different interests."

The organization enlists the work of "political" and "economic" contributors whose role is to provide sources of current events (i.e. articles, videos, pictures, etc.), which the society then discusses and debates the various viewpoints that may arise from these sources of news.

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Meeting one or two Mondays a month, the society focuses a majority of the meetings on discussion-based conversation that come from widespread perceptions of the news.

"The national office does an excellent job running their Twitter and Facebook pages, constantly updating members on different news stories and events taking place," Miller said. "We hope to run the Miami chapter pages in the same way."

In an effort to better connect students to this outlet of news and issues, the organization will be attending the Reagan National Defense Forum Nov. 15. The Forum brings together members of Congress, top civilian officials and senior military commanders for a day of high-level discussion regarding the United States' national defense.

"Students who choose to attend the Reagan National Defense Forum can expect to be among the nation's top national security advisors, learning about different policy initiatives and ways we can focus debate concerning our national security," Miller said.