By Erin Kelley, SHS student
Silverton High School senior Elizabeth Leslie’s interest in government and politics began when she saw the television show The West Wing for the first time. Since then, Leslie has become much more involved with government, and has attended two prestigious programs in Washington D.C.
Leslie attended the National Council for International Visitors Citizen Diplomacy Program for Emerging Leaders in February. Leslie was one of 12, ages 16-25, chosen nationwide to attend NCIV’s annual conference and to make a video aimed at encouraging young people to be involved in diplomacy. While there, Leslie attended lectures on different forms of leadership, along with filming and editing the video.
Leslie again visited Washington D.C. in March for the United States Senate Youth Program.
Leslie was one of the two students chosen from Oregon to attend the program, which aims to educate students in politics and gives the students each a $5,000 scholarship. The group visited museums, attended lectures with the Supreme Court justices and senators and representatives, toured the White House and the Pentagon, had a brief meeting with President Barak Obama, and attended a banquet with United States Senators.
Before the trips, Leslie was already involved in leadership and political activities, including the Youth Advisory Team, Oregon students who meet four times a year to discuss educational topics and present ideas to Oregon Department of Education Superintendent Susan Castillo.
Last summer, Leslie served as an intern in Sen. Ron Wyden’s office. Other activities Leslie has been involved in have included the school board representative for ASB, theater, soccer, speech and debate and Habitat for Humanity.
“With my experiences I have realized that politics are not always necessarily charged with such excitement, that more reaching across the aisle is needed. Though some things we do in this country’s government are not ideal in my mind, there is always another side of every argument that I should be open to and perhaps some mistaken actions were just experiments and we can learn from those,” Leslie said.
She is planning on attending American University in Washington, D.C. in the fall, and plans a double major in political science and history. She’d like to attend law school after college, with a career in policymaking and legislation or in the legal justice system. Leslie is a SHS Class of 2011 salutatorian.
“My favorite thing, though, is when our government is able to set aside differences and really dive into issues and find the best solution for everybody, politics aside,” she said.
