Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Close-Up Students Heading To D.C.

A total of 37 high school students and teachers representing four Arkansas high schools are visiting Washington, D.C., this week. to learn first hand how American government operates.

The students will be participating in the Close Up Foundation government studies program for high school students. The high schools include Gurdon, Russellville, Amity and Dover.

The Arkansas students were to have arrived in Washington on Sunday. They are to return home Saturday.

Gurdon High School students attending are Cassidy Allen, Brian Allen Bruce, Mark Cagle, Amanda Calley, Kadre Clark, Jeremy Cooper, Jennifer Runyan and Joseph Stonum. Carolyn Kuhn, a GHS teacher, accompanied the students.

During the week in Washington, the students will attend seminars with members of Congress, and meet with a representative of the Washington press corps, lobbyists, government officials and political figures to learn more about the federal progress. Time will also be allowed to tour the city, to visit local universities and for cultural activities.

The students will be mixed with students from other areas of the country in workshop groups, where they will have daily discussions and activities 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, then questioning law- and policy-makers they may only read about," Steve Janger, president of the Close Up Foundation, 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."

Janger said that one of the main goals of the program is to show the students that one 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 newer educational methods.

Close Up provides fellowships for teachers and for low-income students which have been provided by a Congressional appropriation and matching funds from the Fred Darragh Foundation; Kansas City Southern Industries, Inc.; 3M; The David and Lucile Packard Foundation; J.C. Penney Company, Inc.; and Union Pacific Foundation.

The Close Up Foundation now celebrating its 25th anniversary, 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 400,000 students, teachers and others have taken part in Close Up Washington Programs.

Amity students are Justin Cantrell, Carla Derrick, Amanda Elam, Crystal Hemund, Malissa McWha, Sidney Mitchell, Melinda Owen, Kristen Partridge, Corey White and Caroline Woodson. The teacher accompanying them is Steven Roberts of Arkadelphia.