Palmer students meet with leaders

Two Palmer High School juniors attended the National youth leadership Conference, meeting with state and national leaders in the process.

Erica Pempek and Rory Egelus attended the conference in Washington, D.C., where they met with members of Congress, Washington's press corps and key government appointees.

Pempek and Egelus also visited memorials and museums as part o the 11-day educational experience.

The National Youth Leadership Conference is designed for high school students who have demonstrated leadership potential and scholastic merit.

Michael Lasday, the executive director of the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, the organization that sponsors the conference, said that participants benefit in a number of ways.

"While some students are reading about leadership in books, these students learn directly from individuals in leadership," Lasday said. "We look at each of these students as colleagues, in whose hands the future of our country lies."

Students also participated in a judicial simulation, in which they examined actual Supreme Court cases.

The conference ended with a Model Congress, in which participants assumed roles of the U.S. Congress. They debated, amended and voted on mock legislation.