High school students and teachers from across Western Colorado are expected to attend an annual economic leadership conference in Grand Junction.

The Freedom & Responsibility Education Enterprise (FREE) Foundation and Foundation for Teaching Economics will host the Nov. 8 conference in the Colorado Mesa University ballroom.

Based in Grand Junction, the FREE foundation hosts the Western Slope Economic Leadership Conference as part of its efforts to promote financial literacy, including economic principles, entrepreneurship and free enterprise.

A total of about 150 high school juniors and seniors from the Grand Valley as well as Nucla, Norwood, Olathe and Montrose are expected to participate along with their teachers. So are home-school students in the region and their parents.

Participating teachers receive materials with which to teach free market concepts.

Conference speakers will include Donald Fell, program director for the Foundation for Teaching Economics and an instructor at the Institute on the Environment and Economy in California.

John Brock, director of the Center for Economic Education at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, also will speak. He creates and teaches classes and seminars for social studies teachers across Colorado as well as internationally.

In addition to three sessions with instruction and hands-on activities, the day-long conference will include a speed networking event in which students will meet with business leaders.

For more information about the Freedom & Responsibility Education Enterprise Foundation, visit www.free-dom.us.com.