The College is delighted to report that four former students: Conor McGinn, Sean Searle, Gerard McGuigan and James Smyth (pictured) have been chosen to take part in this summer’s prestigious Washington Ireland Program.
The organisation identifies emergent leaders from diverse backgrounds and offers them invaluable leadership training and work placements.
Universities across Ireland and the UK entered students for the highly sought-after places available and this year four of the chosen seven pupils from the North are St Malachy’s College Alumni.
Conor McGinn is currently his second year at Queen’s University, Belfast History studying History. While Sean Searle and Gerard McGuigan, are final year students at the QUB School of Law. James Hughes is in his final year of a Business Studies degree at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown.
In July, they will travel to the United States, where they will devise a programme of events and activities designed to challenge their understanding of Government, Business and Media. They will also have the opportunity work with non-profit making organisations across a range of ventures gaining invaluable practical experience.
Primarily based in the Washington metropolitan area, they will gain insight into both federal and local government institutions as part of the internship element of the programme. Past placements have included The White House, Congressional offices, The Northern Ireland Bureau, The World Bank, Habitat for Humanity, AFL-CIO, CNN and CBS, Library of Congress, Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and The Justice Project.
These students already have a proven track record of leadership, commitment and service and are all involved in projects designed to help foster wider understanding of the needs of others.
At the end of the summer the students will return to Ireland with enhanced professional and interpersonal skills and increased confidence in their beliefs that they can and will make a difference.
They are all young men with huge talent and commitment and we wish them every success for the future.