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Rising senior represents state in National Student Congress

National Student Congress

Ethan Combs, a rising senior at WVU, recently represented West Virginia in the Henry Clay Center College Student Congress, a highly intensive two-week program for undergraduates interested in public policy, politics, diplomacy and modern leadership. 

The summer program selects 51 rising college seniors, representing each state and the District of Columbia, to learn about the dynamics of the policy process through an experiential and immersive curriculum. Students engage with lawmakers, academics, government relations experts, policy advisors and other leaders to explore the challenges of formulating comprehensive public policy.

The program places an emphasis on compromise and is hosted on the campuses of the University of Kentucky in Lexington and Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia.

During the first portion of the program, students are divided into two partisan groups and focus on proposing a bipartisan policy attractive to both conservative and progressive ideologies. Next, they present their policy proposal in front of a panel of judges. The students then head to the District of Columbia to witness real policy processes on Capitol Hill and meet with lawmakers and others.

Find more information on the National Student Congress.