Bishop McDevitt Student Acclaims School Choice at White House

Myles Slade-Bowers, a junior at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, visited the White House on Dec. 9 to participate in the Educational Empowerment Roundtable with President Donald Trump and speak about the positive impact that school choice has had on his education.

Betsy DeVos, United States Secretary of Education, invited Slade-Bowers as the sole student to represent the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Slade-Bowers discussed school choice and Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit program, which provides tax credits to businesses that contribute to scholarship programs. It is because of the Pennsylvania Tax Credit Scholarship Program that Slade-Bowers has the opportunity to attend Bishop McDevitt High School.

“School choice opens up doors that would otherwise be slammed shut,” Slade-Bowers said during the roundtable, which included the president, Vice President Mike Pence, and Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Mike Turzai.

“As a young, African-American male in a low-income neighborhood, it’s more likely that I would be a drop-out of high school or be in prison at this very moment than speaking before you and discussing the importance of education freedom for all children, despite zip code, despite background, despite race,” Slade-Bowers said.

“I believe all American children deserve a fair chance at education quality,” he said.

As a school choice advocate and beneficiary, Slade-Bowers interned this past summer at the Commonwealth Foundation to support expanding school choice to more communities and for more education. He volunteers for the American Federation for Children Voices for Choice, and told the president that he plans to attend Penn State University to major in biology and minor in microbiology and biochemistry.

A video clip of Slade-Bowers’ discussion at the roundtable can be seen at https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4837341/user-clip-mcdevittsladebowersspeakswithpresidenttrump.