Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon Students Heading To Washington

As the country begins to here the debates on social security reform and campaign finance revision, the eyes of the world watch the ongoing situation in the middle east.

The President and Congress continue their debates on national priorities and Washington is still abuzz with rumors and controversies.

While the country watches on television, a total of 38 Arkansas high school students and teachers will travel to Washington, D.C., next week, April 5-11, to learn first hand how American government operates.

The students will be participating in the Close Up Foundation govern-ment studies program for high school students.

The Arkansas schools include Gurdon, W.D. Mills University Studies in Little Rock, and Greenland.

During the week in Washington, the students will attend seminars with members of Congress and meet with a representative of the Wash-ington Press Corps, lobbyists, government officials and political figures to learn more about the federal process. Time will also be included to tour the city, to visit local universities and for cultural activities.

The local participants will be mixed with students from other areas of the country in workshop groups where they will have daily discussions and activities focused on current events and on the governing process.

"We offer the students the opportunity to see Washington as a living city by taking them into the buildings they often see only on television and having them question law and policy- makers they may only read about, "Steve Janger, president of the Close Up Founda-tion, said.

"Through the experience we have found that they return home with an interest in both national and community affairs. They want to become involved," he said.

Janger said that one of the main goals of the program is to show students that each person can have an impact on the community.

A teacher from each of the Arkansas schools will accompany the students, not as a chaperone but as a participant in a program designed to acquaint them with issues and innovative educational methods.

Close Up provides fellowships for teachers and for low-income students through a congressional appropriation, with additional support from the Fred Darragh Foundation; GenCorp Foundation; 3M; the David and Lucile Packard Foundation; and Union Pacific Corporation.

The Close Up Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that provides first hand opportunities to learn about the democratic process and the role of the individual. Since 1970, more than 475,000 students, teachers and others have taken part in Close Up Washington programs.

The Arkansas students will arrive in Washington on Sunday and return home on Saturday.

Students from Gurdon are Eric Allen, Holly Almond, Teresa Blake, Erik Breazeale, Bethany Cooper, Rusty Freeman, Eric Gonzales, Melissa Graham, Josh Griffin, Justin Griffin, Ginger Minton, Blake Norris, Adrianne Porcelli, Rachelle Reece, Amy Ross, Mandy Shaver, Valerie Swayze, Andrew Taylor, Kara Thomas and Chris Wise.

Gurdon teachers going are Carolyn Kuhn and Leonard Gills.