By Bob Romantic
GCU News Bureau
This weekend’s National Campus Leadership Council Summit in Washington, D.C., is a golden opportunity for incoming ASGCU student body president Nick Ely.
The event is a chance to meet with policy makers and talk about national issues that affect young adults.
It’s a great networking tool, with hundreds of other student body presidents in attendance from universities and colleges around the country.
It’s a chance to go to the White House and Washington for the first time in his life.
President Barack Obama could make an appearance.
And, if all that weren't enough, it’s a chance to corner current GCU student body president Anthony Mann – who is also making the trip -- for three solid days.
“Anthony is such a busy guy with everything he has going on, it will be a chance to lock him down and pick his brain and learn more about this (student body president) position,” Ely said, only half-joking. “I’ve got the whole flight over and two days of events there to get him.”
Mann, who is always on the go, said the Leadership Summit is a chance to hear from the movers and shakers of Washington on issues including the national debt, job opportunities, financial aid, educational assistance and environmental policy.
The national debt, in particular, strikes a chord with Mann.
“I’m real interested to hear what they have to say about the national debt,” Mann said. “When I talk to people from generations prior to mine, they feel like they were always left with opportunities that were better than their parents. A lot of people I talk to say our generation will be the first to say that what we inherit will not be better than the previous generation.”
The Leadership Summit will take place in the White House South Auditorium on Saturday then move to American University on Sunday. Because they’ll be in the White House, Ely and Mann said the Secret Service wanted a thorough background check on every participant, asking for their Social Security numbers, date of birth, addresses, identification and flight information.
“If even the slightest detail with your address didn’t match up (with their records), you couldn’t go,” Ely said.
Keynote speakers for the event will be former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne of the Bipartisan Policy Institute; Martha Kanter, undersecretary for the Department of Education; Matthew Segal, CEO of Our Time, a youth advocacy group; and Steve Culbertson, president and CEO of Youth Service America.
“I’m just excited about the opportunity to hear what policy makers have to say about all these national issues,” Ely said, “and come back with that knowledge and relate it to the students here.”
Contact Bob Romantic at 639.7611 or [email protected].
