;
This December 3-6 in Houston, Close Up, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), and the Stanford University Deliberative Democracy Lab (DDL) are hosting From Classrooms to Careers: How AI is Shaping Our Paths, a NextGen Roundtable national deliberation for high school students to help them critically examine the role of AI in the lives of today’s young people. The goal? To facilitate meaningful conversations about what the future holds with this rapidly evolving technology, to build students’ deliberation and facilitation skills, and to help them understand how they can put those skills to use back at school.
A faculty advisor must attend the NAIS Symposium on AI and the Future of Learning which will be held concurrently in Houston and will provide insights, tools, and connections to navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape in our schools.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW > SAMPLE SCHEDULE >
Dates: Wednesday, December 3 – Saturday, December 6, 2025
Tuition: $1495 per student. This includes all summit sessions, evening activities, meals, hotel accommodations, and daytime and nighttime supervision and security.
Location & Hotel: The program will take place at a hotel in the Houston, TX metropolitan area.
Registration for this program is now closed. If you would like to join the waitlist, please email us at programsupport@closeup.org.
Over the course of this deliberative experience, students will consider multiple perspectives on AI-related policy topics, critically examine their own views, explore the values and tensions that shape opinions, hear from expert panels, and ultimately work with a diverse cohort of peers to reach consensus.
Following the deliberation, DDL will produce a Youth Impact Report to evaluate movement in student dispositions, measure open-mindedness to multiple perspectives, and reflect youth recommendations. Students will also be eligible to earn a Civil Discourse Credential through Close Up and DDL.
Students will: