Ariana Vito
Santa Rosa, California
Brentwood College School, Mill Bay, Canada Class of 2007

This summer I was a participant in the Presidential Classroom's Future World Leaders Summit Program held on the Georgetown campus in Washington D.C.

In my jam-packed week at Presidential Classroom, I attended informational seminars with guest speakers like Ralph Nader and Ambassador Rudolf Perina of the U.S. State Department; toured embassies and famous sites like the Lincoln Memorial and other war memorials; and gained an understanding of the development of Washington D.C. I had the pleasure of sitting at the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and listening to the Honorable Lee H. Hamilton speak.

In the midst of these activities of touring and listening to guest speakers, students at P.C. were also busy with meeting with our Working Groups. These are groups that deal with issues ranging from international aid, to human rights, refugees, weapons of mass destruction, and peacekeeping--my group. In these groups, we developed Communiqué position papers to present during the Final Summit Meeting, where all the countries would vote either "affirmative" or "negative" for the Communiqué to pass. This experience taught me a valuable lessons on discussing ideas and making decisions with widely ranging perspectives. I became comfortable with voicing my opinion in front of over 50 people and learned how to efficiently work with others towards a goal.

I couldn't believe how knowledgeable this group of people was regarding various political systems, NATO, and world trade. This was definitely a wake-up call for me to be more on top of these important issues, or at least read the newspaper more often. It was fascinating to hear what they had to offer and to see so many different nationalities interspersed in one program. I remember glancing around the room during a conference with my working group and naming each person's home country. I believe it went something like this...Sri Lanka, India, Morocco, U.S., Germany, Canada, U.S., England, Belgium, Thailand, etc. My working group was dealing with the issue of peacekeeping. This gives you an idea of how many countries were represented - over 50!

One thing I loved about the diversity of this program was listening to all the different accents. I didn't realize just how many different U.S. accents there were until I was surrounded by them. From Chicago, to Texas, to Louisiana and Alabama, to Minnesota and Wisconsin, to Massachusetts and Maryland, it was definitely a pleasingly unexpected earful.

The number of multi-lingual kids at PC was inspiring. One girl in particular stands out in my mind. Her name is Stefani from Guatemala and she is fluent in six languages-- English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Korean. This blew my mind. After meeting Stefani along with several other bi and trilingual kids, I was inspired to learn more languages as well. When I received the brochure for this program in the mail, it looked interesting, and I thought, "Why don't I give this a try?" Little did I know that the brochure's claim for the program to be a "life-changing experience" would prove to be true. I had never experienced anything with a remote resemblance to Presidential Classroom, and I must say that the knowledge I gained in my week there is sure to stick with me for life. I learned not just about politics and current global affairs, but also about cultures from kids living in all areas of the world and their enlighteningly different perspectives regarding various issues. I had never been surrounded by such a worldly, knowledgeable group of kids before and I must say that the experience, although intimidating at times, was definitively a refreshing eye-opener!

Note: NSHSS is pleased to include Presidential Classroom as an education partner which offers discounts and scholarships to NSHSS members.  Visit our partners pages for more information and scholarship application.

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