Ten
Sri Lankan students joined 400 outstanding students from around
the world at the Future World Leaders Summit 2000 in Washington.DC
in July. This summit was organized by Presidential Classroom Inc.
a leading non governmental civic education organization in USA.This
was the first time a delegation of Sri Lankan students participated
at this summit.
The team was selected by the Rotary
Club of Colombo Metropolitan from applications received in response
to local media publicity. The delegation consisted of 8 girls and
2 boys. They were: Kamilka Malwatte of Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo,
Kesara Ratnavibhushana of Colombo International School, Michelle
De Saram of Asian International School, Thoshanthi Herath of Musaeus
College Colombo, Ashanya Alles of Colombo International School,
Thilakshani Dias of Stafford International College, Imeshi Indigahawela
of Girl's High School Kandy, Thanuji Shanmugaretnam of British School
of Colombo, Raniya Waheed of British School of Colombo and Sanjeeva
Pallemulla of Royal College, Colombo,
All participating students came home with an enhaned knowledge of
International Relations, Diplomacy, Democracy and World Economy.
The participants visited the White House, attended live sessions
of the US House of Representatives, World Bank HQ, the US State
Department, Holocaust Memorial Museaum and the Smithsonian.The weeks
program in Washington. DC was organized with several discussion
themes to explore International Relations and to develop diplomatic
skills.
The discussion themes were:
Global Economy - Diplomacy - Democracy - Human Rights - International
Aid - Environment
Terrorism - Peacekeeping - International Trade - Nationalism - Arms
Control - Refugees- Health Concerns
