The Junior State of America (formerly Junior Statesmen of America) (“JSA”) is an American non-partisan student-run youth organization. The purpose of the JSA is to help high school students acquire leadership skills and the knowledge necessary to be effective citizens and voters. The JSA is sponsored by the Junior Statesmen Foundation (“JSF”), which also assists in the operation of the JSA Summer Schools.
After the school year is over, JSA chapter members can participate in numerous student-run events over the summer. The biggest events, which are held at various universities, are the JSA Summer Schools. The Summer Schools, conducted by the JSF, offer students an opportunity to study local, state, or national government at an advanced level. These programs are meant to prepare young leaders for active participation in public affairs.
These programs, at which students take a full semester each of two courses over four weeks (with the exception of the Georgetown programs, lasting three weeks), for which they can receive high school credit, take place at Stanford, Georgetown, Princeton, and Yale. Past speakers have included Mike McCurry, Andy Card, Lee Hamilton, Norman Mineta, Joe Trippi, Dennis Kucinich, John Kerry, Harry Reid, Barack Obama, Ted Rall, George H.W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Ed Meese, William Perry, Brian Williams and Karl Rove.
Summer symposia are also held in different regions, such as the summer school symposium of Ohio State University, University of Washington and University of Southern California. These events are one- to two-weeks long and venture into politics, world studies, history, and discussions of current events.
Every summer, the newly elected governors each choose a select few from his or her state/territory to attend the Montezuma National Leadership Summit (affectionately known as "Zuma"). The summit is held in early-to-mid August at Presentation Center in Los Gatos, California, the former site of the Montezuma Mountain School where JSA was founded in 1934. Students ("Zumans") at this summit learn more about the history and national dynamics of JSA and attendance is considered an honor.