Back in mid-December (2020) I personally attended Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit for the first time. Located in beautiful West Palm Beach Florida, this conference took place over four days—from December 19th through the 22nd. Since the conference is now over, I’d like to share my personal experience at this once-in-a-lifetime event.
What’s SAS?
What is the Student Action Summit (SAS)? I’ll admit that I had never heard of the Student Action Summit before this year. I think of SAS as being a modern “Woodstock” for conservative students and young adults—without the hippies and rampant hardcore drugs. The conservative student organization Turning Point USA has hosted SAS for the last six years as its headliner conference for young conservatives who are looking to positively impact America.
If you search “Student Action Summit” on the internet, you will find a lot of false information about SAS. Vanity Fair described SAS as a “conservative youth orgy.” The American Conservative described SAS attendees as “right-wing frat boys and girls.” Let me just tell you that both of these characterizations are wrong! So, read on to get an accurate depiction of SAS by someone who attended it—myself—instead of reading articles and tweets from people who didn’t even attend the conference.
Essentially, SAS is a four-day invitation-only conference that presents some of the most influential thinkers and personalities within the conservative movement. Scores of well-known speakers talked in front of thousands of young conservatives from all fifty states. Topics at the conference ranged a wide variety—such as the COVID-19 lockdowns, election integrity (2020 election), the Great Reset, Big Tech censorship, media bias, and the future of conservatism. With 2020 being such a wild year, the speakers had plenty of topics to discuss and inform the audience about.
The Speakers
By the way, here are just some of the speakers from this year’s SAS: Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson, Dennis Prager, Senator Rand Paul, Dave Rubin, Dinesh D’Souza, Congressman Matt Gaetz, Don Trump Jr., Mike Lindell (CEO of MyPillow), Michael Knowles, Congressman-elect Madison Cawthorn, Governor Kristi Noem, James O’Keefe, and Vice President Mike Pence.
You know that I had to flex a little bit. When I told my family who was speaking at SAS, they were in shock. I could not think of any better way to spend my 21st birthday than to listen to some of my favorite authors, politicians, and pundits from within the conservative movement. If you couldn’t tell already, I’m kind of dork when it comes to conservative politics.
If you want to watch some of the fantastic speakers from this year’s SAS, go to the Turning Point USA YouTube channel. TP USA livestreamed all 4 days of the conference and posted the livestreams to their YouTube Channel.
If you asked me which speakers to recommend, I’d say my five favorite speeches were from Tucker Carlson, Congressman Matt Gaetz, James O’Keefe, Mike Lindell, and Dennis Prager. There were so many other solid speakers too. So, try to watch as many of the speakers as you can.
The Best Part
Even though the speakers were amazing (and believe me, they were), the best part of the conference came from the connections I made with other attendees at SAS. Most people who went to SAS would agree with my perspective. College students like myself often feel alone on a college campus. Conservative students often dread sharing their conservative values in fear of retribution by family members, peers, and professors. Well, SAS has encouraged us to finally stand up for what we believe in.
Going to a conference with thousands of other young people who love America and God was a pretty surreal experience. The people I met at SAS are the ones I want to have in my foxhole: people like my roommates at my hotel, the people whom I stood in line with at 4am to see VP Mike Pence, and the people whom I met at the airport on my way back home. My fellow deplorables at SAS were the happy conservative warriors that I didn’t even know existed.
A Change in Perspective
Also, this year has been rough for pretty much everyone outside of Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Joe Biden. Fortunately, this four-day conference acted as a respite for all the attendees. Unconstitutional lockdowns, arbitrary rules, a global pandemic, and despotic leaders created the dumpster fire known as 2020. Instead, SAS reminded us all of what normal life is and what America is all about. Connecting with people who share my values, learning more about conservatism, and hearing from successful speakers are three main facets of SAS that I personally enjoyed.
Before the conference, I was not too hopeful about the state of America. First off, odds are that Joe Biden will become the next president of the USA. President Trump was the face of American conservativism. I questioned what would happen to our movement if he lost. Moreover, normal life hasn’t come back yet even though it’s been 9 months since the country shut down. Americans’ civil liberties have been trampled on in numerous ways this year. Even better, China is looking to supersede the United States as the world’s superpower. All of those factors combined made me think that our country was lost.
Going to SAS completely flipped my mindset. We—the young conservatives of America—will win in the end. The current state of affairs might not look so great. Nevertheless, hearing from my fellow conservative Gen-Zers has convinced me that the future is bright in this nation. The conservative movement has a bright future considering we have so many dedicated, courageous patriots that want to conserve this country’s freedoms.
“It’s Morning Again in America” after all.