Faces of future leadership!

Aspiring to be future leaders: The 32 students qualified to attend the 2011 Harvard Summit

32 young sparks to attend 2011 Leadership Summit at Harvard University

A once-in-a-lifetime dream will come true for 32 promising student leaders from Sri Lanka, when they attend the 2011 ‘Leadership in Action Summit’ at Harvard University in Boston, USA.

These promising Sri Lankan students between the ages of 16 to 19 from 10 schools will join 300 other teenagers from 30 countries for the one week summit next July, said Ananda Rajapakse, Sri Lanka Representative for ‘Leadership in Action Summit’ at Harvard University, speaking to Daily FT yesterday.

He has taken over 500 Sri Lankan student leaders for leadership summits in USA since 2000.

The delegates attended their first orientation held in Colombo at the Sri Lanka Tourism Training Institute. They included Akana Jayawardena and Amani Wickramasinghe from Bishops’ College, Nimantha Fernando from St.Thomas’ Mt. Lavinia, Minura Tissera from Lyceum International School, Jaikishan Jayesinghe, Shenelle Siriwardena, Migara Cabral, Rashida Patel, Nishath Karim, Prashan Mendis, Ruchira Nanayakkara, Udesh Dharmadasa, Toshan Wickramanayake, Lishan Perera,  Nitya Amalean, Senal Rajamanthri, Lahiru Gamage, Lakshitha Weerasuriya, Aqil Refai, Wiyan Perera and  Kavindu Ranasinghe all  from Colombo International School, Shireen Akbarally, Upeksha Narayana, Tarangee Mutucumarana, Mansha Abdulla, Aqla Mizver and Sachini Egodage all from Asian International School, Raga Raguraman and Sasha Chatoor from The British School in Colombo, Lukshmee Saravanapavan from Elizabeth Moir School, Dmitri Cooray from St. Joseph’s College and Gimantha Perera from S. Thomas’ Prep Colpetty. Rochelle Melder, a former teacher at Asian International School, will be the Delegation Manager.

Interestingly, most of these young Sri Lankans are siblings of top business leaders, CEOs, entrepreneurs and professionals. After their participation in the Harvard Summit, some of them – like those in previous batches – are expected to contribute to the growth of their family-owned or managed businesses with new insights.

Students from outside USA represent 38% of the summit. Their hands-on experiences, personal instructions and focused curricular will help them gain admission and financial scholarships to most top grade American universities for their higher studies. 

The Harvard University campus provides the perfect location for students to develop leadership skills, prepare for university admissions, build their communication and presentation skills. During this week at Harvard they will be inspired to challenge themselves, pursue their dreams and contribute to our country and the world said Rajapakse.

The 2011 July Summit is now filled and applications for the 2011 7-13 August ‘Leadership in Action Summit’ at Harvard University are open now and available free of charge by email at [email protected]. For more information visit www.futureworldleader.org.