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Releases by the U.S. Embassy, Budapest

Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Initiative (BFTFI):  Summer Institute for Youth

Wake Forest University to Host New Youth Program Aimed at Fostering Cooperation Between U.S. and European Youth in the 21st Century

Released on June 23, 2006

On June 21, President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with European Union leaders in Vienna, Austria, at the annual U.S.-European Union summit. While in Vienna, the President met with a group of young Europeans and told them, "One of the things that is very important for our country is to have exchanges with students such as yourselves," adding, "And the reason that I say that is because I want you to get to see America the way it is." Beginning July 1, Wake Forest University will host a new youth program aimed at strengthening U.S.-European relations by building bridges between future leaders from 32 European and Eurasian countries and American youth. 
 
Named in honor of America's first diplomat, the "Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Initiative (BFTFI): Summer Institute for Youth" is the first youth-oriented program funded by the U.S. Department of State to focus exclusively on U.S.-European relations and to involve youth from all regions of Europe and Eurasia.  Wake Forest was selected to host the program in its inaugural year. The grant award from the State Department is $171,750. 

"This program aims to empower the younger generation of Americans and Europeans to face global challenges in the 21st Century together," said Allan Louden, director of the Summer Institute, associate professor of communication and director of debate at Wake Forest. "We hope to achieve this by improving the understanding the participants have of the political and cultural environments in each others' countries."

Approximately 35 high school age students from European and Eurasia - from Norway to Kazakhstan - and 10 American high school age students from across the nation will come to Wake Forest and stay through July 22. The students will live together in a residence hall, participate in three workshops addressing diplomacy-related topics, complete a community service project, visit the European Studies Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, stay for a weekend with Winston-Salem area host families and take field trips to Williamsburg, Va., Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. 

Two of the workshops will be led by Wake Forest faculty. John Dinan, the Zachary Smith Associate Professor of Political Science, will lead "Comparative Constitutionalism" in which students will examine the U.S. process of constitution-making and compare it to the constitution-making processes in European and post-Soviet countries, as well as within the European Union. Ross K. Smith, Wake Forest debate coach, will oversee "Media Criticism in the Age of the Internet" in which students will explore how the Internet and blogs impact the media, public opinion and political situations around the world. The third workshop, "Bridging Differences through Public Argument" will be led by a professor from the University of Pittsburgh.

The State Department hopes this Summer Institute will pave the way for the establishment of other programs under the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Initiative aimed at building bridges between American and European youth.

Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, puts it this way: "Support for freedom is the foundation our foreign policy, but America cannot advance freedom alone; Europe and the United States are partners in this great task. A new generation is growing up in Europe and America for which the Cold War, the advent of democracy in 1989, and the break up of the Soviet Union is history, not memory. It is only by renewing this close relationship between younger Europeans and Eurasians and American young people that we can continue this critical partnership in the 21st Century. And that's why this program is so important to me."

For more information, please contact: Maggie Barrett or Kevin P. Cox, tel: (+1-336) 758-5237; e-mail: barretmb@wfu.edu; or visit the BFTFI web site at www.bftf.org/