A national pro-life group will train hundreds of students and adults to advocate for life, including by participating in an event celebrating the anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Students for Life of America will train 230 students and adults at its third annual National Leadership Collective Kick-off, SFLA told The Daily Signal in an email Thursday. The kick-off ties in with the National Celebrate Life Day Rally at the Lincoln Memorial Steps on June 24, the anniversary of the Roe overturn. One hundred fifty-six of the trainees will be students.

“The National Leaders Collective begins with an initial training weekend in Washington, D.C., each June, where over 150 leaders learn the core skills they need to know to head back to their campuses and communities to make a difference in the upcoming academic year,” Mary Briganti, SFLA director of Leadership Initiatives, told the Daily Signal.

Over the weekend, these young adults will participate in seminars, advocacy, and activities designed to strengthen their understanding of the pro-life movement and equip them with the tools to defend life and lead pro-life organizations.

Trainees will attend the National Celebrate Life Day Rally as part of the event.

Currently, over 550 have registered to attend the rally with another 150 set to watch the livestream online, SFLA told the Daily Signal.

These events will give the aspiring pro-life leaders experience in how to take a stand among their communities. The training does not end after the weekend, but will continue for the whole year, SFLA told the Daily Signal. 

Hollieann Geike, a National Leadership Collective participant, told the Daily Signal that through this internship program, she hopes to meet other young pro-life leaders.

“I am hoping to meet like-minded people who I will be able to build relationships with so that we can work together to bring a culture of life into our country,” she said.

Since Geike was an 8th grader, she sought to make her peers aware of the danger of abortion through her social media accounts. 

When she came to Franciscan University of Steubenville, she encountered Students for Life of America. Through the university’s SFLA chapter, Geike found another avenue through which she could continue to fight for life. 

Geike became president of the school’s chapter her sophomore year, qualifying her to receive a Student for Life Christian Leadership Fellowship. This fellowship is only offered to a student who is “a leader in their pro-life club,” Geike explained. 

Many of the students participating in the invitation-only leadership collection are there because of a similar fellowship or an SFLA year-long internship. 

Thanks to SFLA and the National Leadership Collective, Geike is “hoping to gain knowledge…[to] better defend the pro-life message to a wide variety of people.”

The National Leadership Collective is a year-long internship with SFLA and SFLA Action through which students “will not only know how to be the expert and leader on their campus, but they will also be equipped to educate their communities,” Briganti, the SFLA director, said.

These students will learn how to “lead an outstanding pro-life group,” “lead as an expert in sidewalk counseling and pro-life apologetics,” and “make a lasting impact on campus and in the community through pro-life projects and events,” Briganti added.

Through this year-long program, Briganti explained that SFLA hopes to create “career-driven leaders who educate their peers, inspire the groups they lead, and innovate in project development [that] keeps the pro-life movement moving forward towards our goal of abolishing abortion.”

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