Weyermuller: Turning Point USA Educational Summit 2026

By Mark Weyermuller, Opinion Contributor

“Courage in our Convictions: Culminating Clarity in Chaos” was the theme in last week’s Turning Point USA Education Summit. It was held in June at the Marriott Resort in Lincolnshire, Illinois with over 700 people attending.

Turning Point USA was founded by the late Charlie Kirk who was murdered on September 10, 2025 while speaking at a college campus event in Utah. His wife Erica Kirk was the keynote speaker at the summit.

Other speakers included Riley Gaines, a conservative political activist and former collegiate swimmer. Gaines swam for University of Kentucky where in March 2022 she competed against a biological male in a NCAA college swimming championship. She swam against Kia Thomas who became the first openly trans woman champion,

In March 2022, while swimming for the University of Kentucky in the 200-yard freestyle at the NCAA championship (her final competitive event race), Gaines tied for fifth place with University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who subsequently became the first openly trans woman champion. The feeling of 95% of Americans is that men should be women’s sports. It’s unclear why the NCAA allowed this and are under heavy scrutiny concerning this.

This past week the United States Supreme Court ruled that biological males cannot compete in women’s sports. Other speakers included Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller.

Tuesday night, the first night of the conference, there was a group of about 60 protesters near the hotel entrance in Lincolnshire.

This from the Chicago Tribune: “Two Lake County chapters of Indivisible, a progressive activist group, organized the protest against the Turning Point Educators’ Summit, held at the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort, warning that the conservative group’s goals include bringing “white Christian nationalism” into the educational system, according to one organizer.”

Another opinion is these were paid protesters who oppose homeschooling, religious schools, and private schools as these take away union teacher jobs. Many attending the summit want vouchers for tuition which is also part of school choice. Why would people protest a group promoting good educational opportunities?

There was an extremely large police presence all week including private security, metal detectors, bike police, and even an armored police SWAT vehicle. Multi-marked Lincolnshire police cars were at the entrances all week. There have been violent protesters and agitators at other Turning Point events.

This summit went off without a hitch or any security incidents. Attendees and organizers were very happy with the event.