Student leaders excel at Leadership Summits at Harvard, Stanford, Chicago Universities
Monday, 9 September 2013 00:00
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Twenty Sri Lankan student leaders from 11 schools recently had the opportunity to attend a once-in-a-lifetime Leadership Summit at three prestigious Ivy League universities in USA.
They were The Leadership Summit at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, Technology Leaders Summit at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California and Business & Entrepreneurship Leaders Summit at University of Chicago in Illinois.
All student leaders excelled in their weeks academic and civic activities and were highly recommended by their teacher leaders for university admissions. All delegates have now returned to Sri Lanka.
These delegates were from The Colombo Intern-ational School – Anuki Perera, Ranul Edirisinghe, Deelaka Dharmadasa, Shimali Wijesinghe, Minalee Mad-anayake; from Bishop’s College Colombo – Danushika Gurusinghe; from Musaeus College Colombo – Kalani Fonseka; from Royal College Colombo – Rahal Siriw-ardena; from Gateway International – Dinul Fonseka; from Asian International School – Aarooran Sritharan; from Stafford International School – Thilina Jayasekera and Devinda Goonesekera (now studying in Australia); from Elizabeth Moir School – Sandesh Mendis, Sashini Jinasena, Thulith Wanigasinghe; from Ladies College Colombo – Dharitri Amerasekera; from CIS Kandy – Yohana Ratwatte and Handuni Kabaragamuwa.
Delegates were selected on the recommendation of their parents and head of school followed by a competitive interview process. Delegates are sponsored by their parents.
Most of these student leaders were children of corporate, business and political leaders preparing to lead the world into the next generation.
There were over 300 delegates from 30 countries at each of these exciting one week programs. Students from outside USA represented 35% of the summit. These promising teen leaders were between the ages of 15 and 19 years and very fluent in English.
Each year these 10 Leadership Summits in USA bring together over 3,000 promising student leaders from 40 countries to explore and challenge their leadership skills by learning from world leaders.
In addition, the students attending the summits gain a firsthand experience of living at an American University which will enhance their university resume and give them preference for admission and scholarships to most universities in USA.
The summits are held in great American Universities to provide the perfect location for students to develop confidence, prepare for university admissions and improve their communication and presentation skills. By living on Campus accommodation, experiencing campus food and life with 300 other teens of their age, help these promising student leaders to anticipate changes needed to be successful both academically and emotionally as they go on to select a university for their next five years of their life.
Needless to say that a commitment to education is the best investment you can make in yourself and for your child’s future. So before one makes a major time and financial commitment to enter a foreign university, it makes good sense to attend a one week to 10-day program at a fraction of the cost at one of these great American universities.
Today with such diverse and new academic courses and career paths offered by universities, it can be a challenge for parents and high school teachers to guide our technology savvy teenagers who have access to more information than their previous generation. What they will need are ‘opportunities’ to make informed and clear life impacting decisions into their higher education.
This is what these Leadership Summits will give them so they gain a competitive edge in their quest to enter a foreign University. That’s why it is called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a teenager and the parents.
“The decision which university to select will need much research and understanding of the different cultures of foreign universities. The delegates who attend any of our 10 leadership summits will have this advantage as they will have some experience of what a foreign University life is like. In addition they have 300 other friends of their age group, foreign teacher leaders and world leaders from many countries whom they met at the summit to turn for advice, recommendations, ideas and mentoring support,” said Rochelle Melder, the Chief Student Counsellor for the local representative in Sri Lanka, Presidential Classroom.
Past summits enjoyed personal advice and insights from speakers including, former US Secretaries of State, Hilary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, General Colin Powell; Director Spike Lee; NFL champions Eli and Peyton Manning, Senator and Basketball Champion Bill Bradley, Mary Eisenhower and many other outstanding world leaders.
Applications for next year’s summits are now open. In 2014 there will be five different leadership summits for Sri Lankans to choose from.
They are seven-day Leadership Summit at Harvard (14 July) 10-day Technology Summit at Stanford (3 August), 10-day Business & Entrepreneurship Summit at Chicago (July), eight-day Medical & Health Care Summit at Johns Hopkins (June); eight-day International Diplomacy Summit at Columbia (24 June). Email name, school and home address to [email protected] for a free set of the 2014 Summit Application or call the Sri Lanka office on 0777787515.
Participation at any of these summits gives you a leg up in the most competitive career paths through programs focused in many fields like, business, international diplomacy, community leadership, health, medicine and technology.
Since the year 2000 through Presidential Classroom Inc, over 800 Sri Lankan teenagers have experienced this amazing week in the USA which has changed their lives forever.
Over 600 of them entered foreign
Universities on Scholarships and have graduated to be engaged in successful careers. These include Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Brown, UCLA, Upenn, George Washington, Chicago, Miami, Mt. Holyoke, Notradam, Macalister, Clark, Wisconsin in USA, Sydney, Melbourne, Griffith and East Sydney in Australia and Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Nottingham, Warrick, Leeds, Sheffield, Kings, and Sussex in United Kingdom.
More information and photos are available at www.futureworldleader.org.
