Producing students who can read, write and do math is one of the top priorities for Jeff Hunt’s organization, the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University.
Hunt, who is director of the Centennial Institute, has also been co-chairman of the Western Conservative Summit since 2015 and a regular writer in many publications nationwide, was the guest speaker at the Ector County Republican Women luncheon Wednesday at the Odessa Country Club.
He spoke to the Odessa American prior to giving his remarks.
He organizes an event called the Western Conservative Summit hosted by Colorado Christian University.
“Our think tank is housed in CCU and so we host this event. It’s one of the largest annual gatherings of conservatives in the country. It’s in Denver, Colorado. We’re talking about every issue out there. We’d like to talk about a lot of Western issues, but this year a lot on education. That’s a key issue for a lot of people, and as educators ourselves, we care about really good, quality education,” Hunt said.
They are concerned with issues such as parental rights in education, charter schools, what’s happening in the classrooms, voter integrity, federal land issues, oil and gas issues and wildfires to name a few.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but the wildfires in California in 2020 put enough CO2 into the atmosphere to be the equivalent of 24 million cars driving for a year,” Hunt said.
“… A lot of conservative conferences won’t cover those issues. If you look at CPAC, you look at Values Voter, some great conferences; they don’t always cover Western issues. That’s kind of what makes us unique,” Hunt said.
He said the oil and gas industry in Colorado has been strangled.
“So that’s a big issue. Those are jobs, so we’ll be covering all those issues. We’ll host candidates up in Colorado. Some of our keynote speakers are Kayleigh McEnaney and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Cal Thomas is getting our big award for national conservative leadership. A lot of our partner organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom, Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, they’ll all be at the Western Conservative Summit. … Then today during my speech, talking about the role and the importance of education in shaping future citizens. There’s a lot of debate happening in education, whether you’re in Florida, Governor DeSantis’ new bill; Virginia that drove a lot of the elections up there.”
“… The greatest change in education in American history is happening during these last few years where people are looking at charter schools; home schools. They want reform of the public schools. So we’re talking a little bit about that, too,” Hunt added.
As an institution, Hunt said his institute wants an all-of-the-above approach to education.
“We want really good, got what we call government-run schools, which are traditional brick-and-mortar public schools. We want good charter schools that have a lot of freedom to be able to choose the type of education. My kids go to a charter school in Colorado. It’s a classical charter school. It’s perfect for them. It challenges them. They’re performing really well. We want charter schools, we want home school to be a great option for a lot of parents and then you know all the other online charters, as well. We’re kind of a allow 1,000 flowers to bloom type of approach,” Hunt said.
He added that he thinks there are some really serious problems with government-run education.
“From my perspective, it’s been dominated by agendas. And when I talk to a lot of parents that’s what they feel like is happening in schools. It’s not about reading. It’s not about writing. It’s is not about math. It’s about agendas that are being driven to their children. When conservatives are pushing back, when you see the vitriol and the response coming back against conservatives, it just proves their point,” Hunt said.
Hunt said what he means by good public and charter schools are schools that produce students that can read well, write well, do math. “We have really serious problems when you look at our standards … we are not performing well. So it feels like the main point of education has become secondary to social agendas that are being driven in school. So we’ve got to get the basics right and we’re not even doing that,” Hunt said.
Speakers at the Western Conservative Summit have included Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Kirk Cameron, Sarah Palin, Ben Shapiro, Dennis Prager, Diamond and Silk, Dana Loesch, Brandon Tatum, Dr. Albert Mohler, among others, the Republican Women website said.
Hunt’s writing has been published in USA Today, Fox News, Denver Post, Colorado Springs Gazette, Washington Examiner, Townhall, Colorado Politics, and many others. He has appeared on Fox News, CSPAN, OANN, Newsmax, and many local stations, the site said.
Hunt earned his bachelor of arts degrees in philosophy and religious studies from Westmont College, a master of divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary, and master of political management from George Washington University.
He has served on many campaigns including Rick Santorum’s and Mitt Romney’s 2012 Presidential campaigns.
Hunt is an ultra-runner, former river guide, and loves to be outdoors. He and his wife, Nicole, have four children.
