Pleasant Valley’s chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) held its first meeting of the school year on Tuesday, Oct. 10. Led by sophomore president Sophia Friebel and advised by history teacher Rusty VanWetzinga, this meeting focused on introducing the values of the club and planning for the remainder of the school year.

Founded by Charlie Kirk in 2012, Turning Point USA is a nonprofit student activism group focused on promoting conservative values.

“Turning Point USA’s mission is to educate students about the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government. TPUSA activists are the community organizers of the right,” says its website.

Friebel has been active in TPUSA since eighth grade, when she introduced the club to PV Junior High. She explained what made her want to join Turning Point. “I chose to get involved in Turning Point at PV when the high school chapter was founded. I had never heard of the organization before but saw that they were active advocates in loving America and free speech which I thought was really cool because I had never seen a group like that,” Friebel said.

TPUSA aims to educate, identify, empower, organize, mobilize and register young voters. In addition to having chapters at over 3,500 high school and college campuses, the organization also employs a variety of contributors and ambassadors and has millions of social media followers.

Pleasant Valley’s chapter is currently going into its third year of operation. In the past, the club has discussed topics such as capitalism, free speech and taxation. Members have had the opportunity to meet with legislators and political figures to discuss important issues.

Friebel also outlined the club’s plans for this school year. “The club holds meetings as an open discussion of ideas and is considering starting other events too. My goals for the club are to spread the love of America throughout PV. I would like to host more meetings and cover topics that fellow students are interested in. A lot of ideas revolve around what others would be interested in helping with and participating in,” she explained.

Since the club relies heavily on student input for suggestions, participation is necessary. In previous years, PV’s TPUSA chapter has had close to 20 participants, but less than 10 showed up to the first meeting. Challenges with consistent attendance also caused the club to meet less than they would have liked last year.

Vanwetzinga chose to advise the club after the students who founded it were having trouble finding a teacher advisor. Since the club focused on topics that he was interested in and had similar viewpoints on, he stepped up to the challenge.

VanWetzinga hopes that participation can stay strong and gave his input on why participation could be low for a club like Turning Point. “I know there’s a lot of kids interested in these things. I think there’s a stigma out there that if they join Turning Point or are an advocate that it will send a negative connotation and that’s not the case. We live in a free society and are supposed to be free thinkers and I try to express that to them, that’s what education is supposed to be about,” he iterated.

Although Turning Point is focused on conservative values, healthy discussion is always encouraged. At the first meeting, club leaders made it apparent that disagreement is welcome. Even though students might share a similar overall ideology, their beliefs on individual topics could differ.

TPUSA also does not openly support a specific political party, making participation open to a variety of different people.

VanWetzinga highlighted the importance of disagreement and discussing issues that some might see as controversial. “I’m there to help facilitate and they bring up topics that they [the students] are passionate about or interested in that we discuss and talk about in an open manner. We’ve had some great conversations and some disagreements within the club, so I think it’s been healthy for certain students to voice their opinions on topics that they aren’t as comfortable in,” he stated. “Kids have done a good job respecting others’ opinions. We hear a lot about diversity of thought and belief, and believing something different and being open minded is okay,” VanWetzinga continued.

Turning Point USA also offers school chapters resources to be activists on their campus. Activism kits with stickers, posters and pins provide resources for students to take a stand on issues that are important to them. According to the chapter’s vision, equipping conservatives with resources like this is important to defend their beliefs in a culture where they are often silenced.

Having a club like Turning Point at PV provides a balance on campus for students who might not feel comfortable sharing opinions and beliefs that they might feel are becoming more uncommon among the younger generation. High school students are future American voters, and discussing political issues prepares them for an involved and informed future. 

Friebel hopes that students interested in joining know the power of their voice. “Just because we are in high school doesn’t mean we can’t have strong values and make a difference,” she said.