WENO, Chuuk — A Xavier High School student residing on Saipan has been selected to attend a special summer school for future leaders in the U.S.
Kennedy DLG. Benjamin, a 16-year-old junior at Xavier High School in Weno, Chuuk, found out last week that he has been selected to attend the 2002 session of the Junior Statesmen Summer School at Standford University in California.
The 61st annual session of Junior Statesmen Summer School will be held from July 1 to July 30 on the Stanford University Campus in Stanford, California.
While there, students take college-level courses in American government and speech.
They also participate in nightly student debates of controversial public policy issues in a congressional workshop.
Highlighting the month-long session will be frequent meetings with a high-level group of leaders from government, business, and the news media. This non-partisan speakers program gives future leaders a chance to share ideas with today’s power brokers.
Kennedy Benjamin hopes to study engineering in college. He is particularly excited about getting a jump on his peers as he experiences a sneak preview of college life at Stanford University.
Benjamin was accepted to this program because of his outstanding academic record and potential leadership.
An honor student and class president the past three years at Xavier High School, Benjamin also won the FSM Chuuk state debate last March.
He has decided to forego this honor and privilege to represent Chuuk State in the FSM national debates scheduled in Yap this summer so that he can attend the JSA program at Stanford University.
Kennedy is the son of Nick and Elaine Benjamin, and grandson of the late Ichiro Roland Benjamin of Paliker, Pohnpei, and Carmina Weilbacher.
