Participants Selected for CIEE's 7th Annual Civic Leadership Summit

From a competitive pool of more than 2,500 applicants, 45 young leaders have been chosen to attend the 7th annual CIEE Civic Leadership Summit, a three-day event featuring a dynamic exchange of ideas on topics of leadership, social entrepreneurship, and cultural understanding.

Hosted at American University in Washington, D.C. and presented in partnership with Ashoka’s Youth Venture, Girl Rising, Street Law, Inc., and The World Justice Project, CIEE's Civic Leadership Summit includes sessions and activities designed to build intercultural awareness, social entrepreneurships skills, and an understanding of civics and the rule of law.

The 2019 Civic Leadership Summit participants represent 40 countries and they all demonstrated a passionate commitment to making a difference in their communities when they return home. Here's how three students responded when asked what inspires them to take action to make their country (and the world) a better place:

Vianney Novelo, Belize

"I want to share...appreciation for what many of us take for granted: love, acceptance, humility, and appreciation for all cultures. We live in an era where some view our differences as barriers when in fact they make us unique and beautiful. Learning to appreciate our differences through mutual understanding will empower us to make an even greater impact.”

Lusine Talawally, Liberia

“I want to make Liberia better. For the young man that has to drop out of school to feed his family, for the woman that has to break her back to put food on the table, for the old man that lost his limbs defending his country in war after the Liberian civil war. It’s those people that inspired and really motivate me to take action.”

Ramune Triusyte, Lithuania

"I want to show my community that being deaf, or hard of hearing is not an obstacle to reach certain goals. I want to encourage my people, the deaf ones, that they should not close down themselves, but rather they should at least try to do something, travel, realize themselves, because that is where the life starts."

Learn more about the Civic Leadership Summit here.