Local teen leader to exercise skills in DC

Kamille San Nicolas, the daughter of Timothy M. and Adelia R. San Nicolas of Rota, has been selected to participate in the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. from July 23 to Aug. 2, 2005.

San Nicolas attends school at the Sunset High School, an IB world school at Beaverton, Oregon.

NYLC is a unique leadership development program for high school students who have demonstrated leadership potential and scholastic merit. Nicolas will be one of approximately 400 outstanding scholars from around the country at the conference.

The theme of NYLC is The Leaders of Tomorrow Meeting the Leaders of Today. Throughout the 11 days, San Nicolas will interact with a variety of personnel who operate within the three branches of government, the news media and the international community.

“The National Young Leadership Conference prepares students like Kamille San Nicolas to serve our country well, whether that means as elected officials in our nation’s capital, as active members within communities around the world or as intelligent, creative and responsible members of the work force,” said Mike Lasday, executive director of the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, the organization that sponsors the conference. “Through a series of simulations, we place these young leaders in the proverbial driver’s seat on a variety of issues facing our country today. Their determination, as shown within the conference, is a good indicator of the types of leaders we will see in the future.”

Complementing a schedule of special meetings and briefings, Nicolas will participate in a number of leadership skill-building activities and simulations. In one role-play activity titled If I Were President, students act as the president and Cabinet members responding to an international crisis. Students also participate in Testing the Constitution, in which they examine actual Supreme Court cases. The conference ends with the Model Congress, in which the scholars assume the roles of U.S. Representatives, and debate, amend and vote on proposed mock legislation.

Past highlights of this program have included welcoming remarks by a current or former member of Congress, made from the floor of the House of Representatives. Students have also had opportunities to interact with prominent members of the Washington press corps at the National Press Club.