Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

A leader in the making
Gishan De Silva, talks of the wealth of experience reaped at the Presidential Classroom, Future World Leaders Summit, USA
Very recently I had the opportunity of meeting an aspiring youngster bubbling with confidence and enthusiasm, who had got the opportunity to participate in the Presidential Classroom, Future World Leaders Summit in USA this year. Seventeen-year-old Gishan De Silva from St. Joseph’s College, had the privilege of joining over 400 outstanding students from about 41 different countries at the summit held at George Town university in Washington DC.

The conversation I had with him was an interesting one. I can recall his cute smiling face become serious at times as he related his memorable experience. A first year, Arts stream student and steward, Gishan was the second Josephian to be selected to represent Sri Lanka at the future world leaders summit. He was also one of those keen students who was involved in the model UN, working towards achieving an ambition of becoming a diplomat one day.

The fact that some of the Sri Lankan students have come out of their shell to stand on their own from their school days is an achievement. The Sri Lankan delegation had consisted of 42 students from International schools as well as those from other leading schools. Once the selection was made, said Gishan, all those selected went through three intensive months of training.

Each country that participates in the summit has to make a presentation of something unique to their countries. The Sri Lankan delegation presented a fusion dance and had members of the delegation dressed as people from different ethnic groups Sinhala, Tamil, Burgher and Muslim. The summit enabled the participants to learn of other cultures by encouraging the participants to mingle with everybody and by allocating all participants roommates from different countries. “My room mates were Dilon from Texas and Austin from California.” Col. Glen R. Whicker USAF (United States Air Force) and Captain John D. Cordone USMCR (United States Marine Corps) were in charge of the Sri Lankan delegates.

The American perspective of the Iraq war was discussed and argued. Although the viewpoints of the participants differed from each other, the discussion enabled the delegates to understand the various dimensions of opinion that could exist concerning any aspect of importance.

Though all the participants were on a very strict schedule, they all enjoyed themselves. In fact daily they even managed to have a baila session before the 11p.m curfew. These baila sessions and the graduation dinner had been some of the things that Gishan enjoyed apart from visiting the White House, Holocaust Museum and the Senate, the most significant event was meeting and discussing with former Senator Bruchneru the CEO and President of the Presidential Classroom Future Leaders Summit.

The Sri Lankan delegation was the largest participating foreign delegation in the summit. Their presence made a lasting impression and helped to create an awareness of Sri Lanka’s distinct identity. Prior to leaving for the summit Gishan had met Jayantha Dhanapala and his advice to “think globally but act locally” had made a profound impact on him.

Gishan was thrilled with the experiences he had gained at the summit, and happy that he had made so many new friends who were already keeping in touch with each other! He expressed his profound thanks to his parents who made possible his participation at the summit.

The future world leaders summit was one of the ideas of the late US president John F. Kennedy. Originally it was open for the future leaders of his country but now it has caught on so much that students from other countries also can attend. For Gishan it has been an experience of a lifetime to learn not only of the USA but also to interact with youth of other countries and learn of their views, hopes and desire to create a better world and to get a better understanding of international politics.

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