February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
A group of 30 Irish students from both sides of the border are spending the summer immersing themselves in the political nuts and bolts of how America works.
The students, who are taking part in an intensive eight-week immersion organized by the Washington-Ireland Program, were being hosted to a reception this week by Irish Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Collins.
But that was downtime.
“We are a 501 (c) (3) registered charity that brings around 30 of the most promising Irish students to Washington, D.C. each summer, from both Ireland and Northern Ireland, for an intensive leadership, service, and internship scheme,” said spokesman Chris Andrews.
“We are firstly a cross-community program with recent graduates beginning to emerge as senior politicians, business, and other leaders. In the past we have had interns working for senators Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and with the World Bank, Department of Homeland Security, the White House, Library of Congress, and many, many more,” he said.
This year’s group has also made forays up to New York to visit places of interest including the Untied Nations. In Washington, as well as meeting with a range of political and business leaders, the students also visited the U.S. Supreme Court where they met with Chief Justice John Roberts.