The 1994-95 class, for example, met with over 100 individuals including Supreme Court Justices, Cabinet Secretaries, senior White House officials, Members of Congress, military leaders, business executives, and foreign heads of state.
As part of the educational program, Fellows also travel to other major U.S. cities, domestic military bases, and foreign countries to talk with locals about conditions and concerns which shape policy-making and problem-solving. Like the work assignment, these activities too, comprise learning by doing. Fellows have tutored New York City school children, fired weaponry at Ft. Bragg's Special Forces training center, and risen before dawn with cutters in the sugar fields of southern Florida. Previous classes have traveled through Latin America and to the former Soviet Union. In East and Central Asia, Fellows recently examined development challenges in the region's poorest countries and modern-day problems in its busiest cities.
(Photo of Colin Powell)
"What I learned about
government as a White House Fellow was the key to the opportunities
that came my way. I know of no other program that provides such a
learning experience."
-- Colin Powell, 1972-73
Photo of Angela Diaz during her Fellowship year">"The
remarkable access through the education program to people like Colin Powell, William
Rehnquist, even Bruce Willis, has been truly remarkable. Day in and day
out, it has been the most stimulating year of my life."
-- Angela Diaz, 1994-95
(Photo: Suzy Becker)
"Just when I thought I'd learned all I needed to
know.... My experience in the Fellowship and at the Peace Corps has opened
my eyes to so many new worlds. I'll remember this year for all the
incredible people I met."
-- Suzy Becker, 1993-94
(Photo: Larry Berger)
"I think there's a sense today that the best way to be an idealist is to be a realist first
-- to figure out what is really going on, what has failed in the past,
and what might work in the future."
-- Larry Berger, 1994-95