DDHS Sophomore Lizzie Sirkman will attend the Presidential Inauguration Leadership Summit, a five-day once-in-a-lifetime learning experience in Washington DC from Jan. 18-22.
Delavan-Darien High School sophomore Lizzie Sirkman has the opportunity of a lifetime next week.
She was one of about 125 outstanding high school students invited to participate in the Presidential Inauguration Leadership Summit, happening Jan. 18-22.
The Presidential Inauguration is just one part of the five-day program, in which Summit Scholars will gain a deeper understanding of the history behind the electoral process and the rich traditions surrounding the transition of presidential powers.
“The Presidential Inauguration Leadership Summit will provide students with an opportunity to take part in historic events that coincide with the Inauguration of the President of the United States,” said Andrew Potter, the chief academic officer for Envision and the Presidential Inauguration Leadership Summit.
In the summer between fourth and fifth grade, Sirkman was a part of an Envision program on the Northern Illinois University campus. Former Delavan-Darien fourth-grade teacher Cathy Theobald nominated her for the youth program at NIU, which got the ball rolling for this endeavor.
The organization, which provides educational programming and enrichment experiences to exceptional students across the country, kept tabs on Sirkman over the years. As a gifted and talented high school student at DDHS, she was invited to attend the five-day summit in the nation’s capitol.
She said receiving the special invite in the mail (which has found its way to her portfolio for safe keeping) was unbelievable.
“Since I had done something through Envision before, I knew it was legit. I was like, ‘Mom, I got invited to the inauguration!’ She didn’t think it was real,” Sirkman said.
While the inauguration will be memorable and historically significant, it’s only one part of a jam-packed educational experience for the youth invited to the summit.
Summit Scholars like Sirkman will be inspired to become change agents while hearing from an unparalleled slate of speakers, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, General Colin Powell, actor and movie producer Spike Lee, Olympic and World Cup women’s soccer champion Abby Wambach, former presidential candidates Carly Fiorina and Governor Martin O’Malley, political pundits Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson, and others. She’ll also have the chance to put inspiration into practice while participating in a Delegations for Change, a simulation where Summit Scholars will work together to create workable solutions to the challenges that their generation and the new presidential administration will face.
“I’m not super passionate about politics, but what I am passionate about is global change and making a global impact,” Sirkman said, noting she’s really looking forward to being on a Delegations team that will study ‘Drones, Clones and Genomes.’ “Inauguration is just one part out of five days. The rest of it is learning and making an impact.”
An Inaugural Gala event at the Smithsonian Institution Museum is also on the top of her “looking forward to” list. Sirkman wants to become an aerospace engineer after college, and the event will be in the shadows of some of the world’s most historic aircraft housed at the Smithsonian. Plus, she’ll get to wear a formal dress.
But beyond the glitz, glam, notable personalities and celebrities at the event, Sirkman said she has wanted to make an impact on the world since she was a child. She battled a life-threatening illness in her youth and realized that the world was much bigger than just what was in her neighborhood. She survived a sickness that could have killed her and there had to be a reason why, she said. From then on, she was inspired to make a difference.
“There are so many people in the world. If I only limit myself to being in my school or with my friend group, I’m being so ignorant toward everyone else in the world,” she said. “That made me want to be a productive global citizen.”
She’s hoping that being in the presence of some of the world’s most notable decision-makers — past and present — and breathing the same Washington D.C. air that they breathe, will set her on the course for making her own mark on the world.
“I’ve never been in the presence of such impactful people before,” she said. “When it happens, I’m going to be awestruck. The inauguration itself is not what I’m most interested in. It will be the experience as a whole and what I’m going to learn from it and who I’m going to meet at it.”
FOR MORE
For more about the Envision program visit: https://www.envisionexperience.com/
For more about the Presidential Inauguration Leadership Summit see: http://www.envisionsummit.com/inauguration