The Lawrenceville School chapter launches with 123 students signed up

IES United States has launched a new chapter at The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with 123 students signed up at its founding. The response establishes Lawrenceville as one of the largest opening chapter communities in the Society's international network and signals a striking appetite for sustained ethical dialogue on campus.

The chapter was founded by Aden Lee, Co-President for Internal Operations of IES United States. Aden leads the American branch's national direction, executive oversight, bylaws, and chapter standards; at Lawrenceville, he is bringing that institutional work back to the level where the Society matters most — students seated together around a difficult question.

Lawrenceville's Harkness tradition gives the chapter an especially fitting home. Its discussion-centered culture asks students to listen closely, enter a conversation with evidence, and accept responsibility for the quality of the room. IES extends that discipline beyond the classroom, applying it to questions of obligation, leadership, technology, justice, and civic life for which no answer key exists.

The 123 students who signed up will form a broad founding cohort rather than a passive membership list. Programming will move through small-group case sessions, rotating student facilitation, practitioner conversations, and written reflection. The structure is designed to preserve intimacy and intellectual accountability even at an unusual scale.

“One hundred and twenty-three students did not sign up because ethical questions are easy. They signed up because those questions deserve a room large enough to hold them.”

For Aden, the chapter also serves as a proving ground for the internal systems he oversees nationally. Facilitation guides, meeting sequences, leadership succession, and chapter reporting standards can be tested in a demanding residential-school setting before being shared across the American network.

The launch joins the established Walker School chapter in Marietta, Georgia, and gives IES United States a second strong institutional anchor. Together, the two chapters demonstrate that the Society's model can take root in distinct school communities while retaining the same core commitments: careful disagreement, intergenerational exchange, service, and student leadership.

Chapter applications remain open for the current academic year. Student founders receive the Society's case library, facilitation training, governance support, and direct guidance from national and regional leadership as they prepare their first meeting.