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From the outside, you may not perceive that a group of high schoolers clustered at a lunch table in Purdue University’s Center for Entrepreneurship met mere days ago after traveling thousands of miles from across the world.
But they did, and their conversations range from what privacy privileges look like in their home countries to what popcorn European movie theatres sell.
The students, 55 of them in total, are this year’s cohort of the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellowship program.
The program was established by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in 2006 to mark Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday.
As an American statesman and diplomat, Franklin often traveled back and forth between Europe and the U.S. Using diplomacy and the media, Franklin helped increase the exchange of information between Americans and other countries around the globe.
The fellowship now prioritizes four “modules” which reflect Franklin’s passions and achievements.
Forty-five European students, who come from countries like Greece, Georgia, Turkey, and Spain, are joined by 10 American teenagers to explore topics of international relations and diplomacy, media and communications, civic education and democratic citizenship, and service and volunteerism over a four-week stay in several cities across the United States.
“It’s a really cool opportunity for international civic education that, frankly, we don’t have that often,” said Charles Dunlap, president and CEO of the Indiana Bar Foundation, which is assisting with the program this year.
Purdue University hosts the fellowship, thanks to grant funding from the Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The fellowship used to be hosted at Wake Forest University as well, but in recent years has shifted solely to Purdue’s campus. Students make stops in cities like Chicago, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., where they get the chance to speak with leaders and enjoy experiences specific to each city, like Indy’s Eiteljorg Museum.
Fourth Amendment focus
During their few days on Purdue’s campus in West Lafayette, students learned more about the United States’ judicial system and constitutional law.
On July 2, several judges from the Indiana Court of Appeals and a justice from the Indiana Supreme Court converged on campus to work with students for the day, answering questions on how they rose to their positions, what they do to cope with hearing difficult cases, and explaining how the American judicial system differs from other systems across Europe.
“Every one of them is interested in government, politics, the international world in which we find ourselves, and they’re excited and their enthusiasm is infectious,” said Indiana Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Slaughter, who worked with students while on campus.
Prior to their work with the judges, students collaborated in small groups to develop arguments for mock legislative hearings focused on the Fourth Amendment and the 1928 wiretapping case, Olmstead v. United States.
In that case, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, writing the dissent, argued for a general right to privacy. He stated, “The makers of our Constitution… sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions, and their sensations. They conferred, as against the Government, the right to be left alone—the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.”
Indiana’s judges retained their roles during the mock hearings, offering feedback and questions during the students’ presentations. During the hearings, students discussed whether they agreed with Justice Brandeis’s opinion, offering their thoughts on which circumstances are appropriate for a government to limit privacy for the common good or national security.
Dunlap has been involved with the fellowship for several years, but 2025 marks the first time that the bar foundation itself has formally participated.
As part of the foundation’s involvement, Dunlap helped choose what constitutional topic the students would study for their mock hearings. He also helped bring actual judges in to participate for the first time in the program’s history.
“We focused on this one, right to privacy, search and seizure, just because it’s interesting. There’s a lot of different perspectives,” he said. “They have a different cultural history with search and seizure and government intrusiveness.”
During the hearings, the groups discussed how privacy laws work in their countries and how certain privacy-related scenarios, such as the use of artificial intelligence, might be handled. In the case of AI, some students said their home countries have at least some laws regulating AI, while others said they’re still a way off from that.
Bridging the Atlantic
The 55 students that are part of the fellowship represent some of the brightest of the next generation in each of their countries: applications for European students were accepted through individual countries’ U.S. embassies. The application process included a resume, essay, video prompt and formal interviews with program officials.
“They’re smart, academically gifted students that are going to be leaders in their countries getting to know each other and having a cohort of people that they get to know at this age…they really establish lifelong relationships,” Dunlap said.
Program organizers and court officials alike emphasized how beneficial a program like this is for high school students who sit on the precipice of adulthood. Whether they hail from across the Atlantic or down the Mississippi, learning about the American judicial system in the middle of the country offers a different perspective for the young minds.
“Some get their impression of what America is all about from Hollywood. Others from the Capitol, Congress in Washington, D.C.,” Justice Slaughter said. “I think it’s really helpful and healthy for them to come to the middle of the country in Indiana and see how we do things here.”
Dunlap called the program an “international summer camp” giving students the rare opportunity to explore the country while fostering strong relationships through international civic education.
Students who spoke with The Indiana Lawyer emphasized how quickly they took to each other upon arriving in Indiana at the start of the program.
“I was one of the first people here, and so I was, like, really nervous…And then they got here at like 2 a.m. in the morning on this bus. And like, every single person comes up to me and starts hugging me, and we became friends, like, in the first 30 seconds,” said Jenica Panicker, an American fellow.
While their conversations in the classroom highlight the similarities and differences between their countries politically, students said a significant amount of learning has taken place in smaller, everyday moments where cultural differences are exposed.
“I’ve always taken Walmart for granted,” Panicker said.
Ultimately, it’s not lost on students how special the opportunity to learn in this capacity is.
“It’s like the best experience I could get,” said Angelos Voulkos, a fellow from Greece. “Like, if you get to experience America for a month, which was a dream I was expecting to do at my 40s or something.”
The Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellowship is available to students ages 16-18. Applications for the 2026 fellowship will open this December.•
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