Past, Current, and Future Events and Partnerships

  • Students in The Gray Party organize the first Better Angels debates and workshops ever held for high school students on campus in October 2018 and January 2019; Better Angels subsequently confirms the organization plans to bring its workshops to high school and college campuses going forward.

  • Gray Party members host a 2017 gubernatorial debate with four candidates on campus. The all-school event is co-sponsored by The Governor’s Information Forums (TGIF) and moderated by Todd Feinberg of WTIC NewsTalk 1080 AM.

  • Gray Party members sponsor a February 2019 presentation by guest speaker Max Boot P’20, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington Post columnist and Global Affairs Analyst for CNN, who speaks about conservatism and the future of the Republican Party.

  • The Gray Party welcomed Christopher Healy ’76, Executive Director of the Connecticut Catholic Conference and former State Republican Chairman, to School Meeting in May 2019.

  • Students from the Gray Party and McMann’s Honors U.S. Government and Politics class serve as moderators and timekeepers for a November 2019 forum co-sponsored by the Washington Democratic Town Committee and Republican Town Committee and featuring the candidates for the town’s top elected positions.

  • McMann and students in the Gray Party facilitate a Better Angels debate, “The Future of U.S. Immigration Policy,” in January 2020 at the Gunn Memorial Library in Washington.

  • School Meeting presentations are ongoing on topics including: media bias, the 2019 midterm elections, the 2019 government shutdown,  party platforms in the 2020 election, the electoral college, battleground states in 2020, mail-in voting, and local elections.

  • Student-led voter registration drives are held in advance of the 2019 and 2020 elections.

  • Gray Party members host an October 2020 Town Hall forum featuring members of the town’s Board of Selectmen, who will discuss the town’s response to COVID-19 and Tropical Storm Isaias.

  • Gray Party members meet with Connecticut 4th District U.S. Representative Jim Himes in November 2020.

  • Students organize a mock election on Election Day 2020

  • Gray party members sponsor a Braver Angels (formerly Better Angels) debate on free speech and cancel culture on campus in November 2020.