Alva Review-Courier -

Jennifer Schubert-Akin, a 1975 graduate of Burlington High School, is CEO and co-founder of the Steamboat Institute with her husband, Rick Akin. The SI held their eighth annual Freedom Conference recently, nestled in the Rocky Mountain town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

The exhilarating two-day event featured riveting speakers and panelists who are experts on what's happening in the nation and world from the economy and education to national defense and much more. Some of the panels featured bi-partisan round-table discussions.

As Schubert-Akin's sister, this reporter attends the conference and likes to bring some of the highlights back to area readers.

The keynote speaker for the freedom conference was Carly Fiorina who ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. President in the primary season. Fiorina's address to the group runs in a separate story in the Newsgram.

Several of the conference speakers are authors of books on the New York Times bestsellers list and people you see as contributors on major news channels and read their articles in national publications.

One of those was Steve Moore, chief economist of the Heritage Foundation and senior economic adviser to presidential candidate Donald Trump. His panel discussed “A Call to Unleash American Prosperity.” Also serving on that panel was Andy Puzder, who is CEO of CKE Restaurant Holdings, Inc., parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast-food restaurant chains. Puzder is author of “Job Creation, How It Really Works and Why Government Doesn't Understand It.”

The opening speaker was U.S. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska who spoke of the importance of instilling a strong work ethic in youth, that the center of American life is in your hometown Rotary Club, that America is exceptional, and much more in his impassioned address.

Mary Kissel of the Wall Street Journal editorial board participated in several panels and moderated one of the most intense panels. That featured Lt. General Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Flynn is a foreign policy adviser to Trump. Also on the panel was Michael LaDeen of the Foundation of Democracies. The two men co-authored a book, “Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies.” A separate story will follow about their discussion.

One enlightening panel was “The PC Culture and Free Speech on Campus.” One member of that panel was Charlie Kirk, founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, a conservative movement on college campuses geared to Millennials. Another panelist was President of Oklahoma Wesleyan College Dr. Everett Piper, who was an articulate and commanding speaker. Dr. Piper wrote the book, “Why I'm a 'Liberal' and Other Conservative Ideas.” The book tells about “The Pride of Politics,” “The Arrogance of Academia,” “The Loss of Liberty” and “The Legalism of the Left.”

The Steamboat Institute (SI) promotes America's first principles and inspires active involvement in the defense of liberty. The SI has a 10-member board and national advisory board of 20. SI promotes the message of limited government, limited taxes and fiscal responsibility, personal responsibility, free market capitalism and strong national defenses.

The theme of this year's conference was “We Still Hold These Truths.” Schubert-Akin said, “These powerful words in our Declaration of Independence, `We hold these truths to be self-evident,' have been part of the foundation of America for 240 years. And yet now we must ask, `Do we still hold these truths?'”

Dr. Matt Spalding, associate vice president at Hillsdale College in Washington, D.C., authored the best selling book, “We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering our Principles, Reclaiming our Future.” He spoke of how America can get back on course and American renewal.

The SI has greatly expanded since their first few years to further extend the message to help rebuild a culture of personal responsibility, individual liberty and small government. The SI now has three young adults who are recipients of the SI's Tony Blankely Chair for Public Policy and American Exceptionalism. They travel throughout the U.S., sharing the message of the SI through television appearances, speaking engagements, in print and much more.