Junior Fellows: Objectives & Curriculum

A different approach to learning.

Objectives: The Junior Fellows program promotes education, public service, and professionalism. The organization is dedicated to producing students who are educationally and professionally trained for high-level employment and citizenship.

Curriculum & Activities: Students achieve their academic, civic, and professional objectives by attending lectures, traveling to sites of political interest, and gaining hands-on work experience. Each of these is discussed below.

Lectures: In the past two years, the students have attended more than sixty lectures and speeches by leading political, entertainment, and sports figures. The students attended a luncheon with Secretary Colin Powell, have had breakfast with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, have had dinner with Alan Alda, and have attended presentations by figures such as Nobel-Prize winning physicist Stephen Hawking, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and author Douglas Brinkley.

Other Lectures

Travel: During 2006-2007, the Junior Fellows have traveled to seven states and Washington, DC. Their trips are meticulously planned, so that they can visit politically, historically, and culturally important sites, while also having fun, learning more about politics, and making contacts. Their most recent trip, to MO, KS, and OK illustrates the careful manner in which they design these trips for maximum educational value:

Day 1: After driving all night, the students arrived in Independence, Missouri at 5:30 am. Later that morning, they awoke to visit the Truman Presidential Library. Afterwards, they drove to Kansas City, MO, where they saw the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the American Jazz Museum, the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit, and the World War I Memorial.

Day 2: The students traveled to Topeka, Kansas, where they visited the Brown v. Board of Education Civil Rights Museum, the Missouri State Capitol, met with Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and her staff, and met Mrs. Kansas.

Day Three: The students drove to Abilene, Kansas to see the Eisenhower Presidential Library.

Day Four: On the way home, the students spent the night in Oklahoma City, OK, where they saw the Bombing Memorial and the Brickyard.

And still others:

Service:

The Junior Fellows program does a variety of service activities. Foremost, they volunteer weekly at the HEARTS Veterans Museum. The Junior Fellows also work special events for diverse groups. In Huntsville, they have assisted the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, the HEARTS Veterans Museum, Huntsville Main Street Program, and the Chamber of Commerce. In Houston, they regularly assist The Houston Forum, The World Affairs Council, and British American Business Council. The fellows also host programs such as book signings and symposia to help educate students.

Recently, the Junior Fellows assisted with Representative Lois Kolkhorst's visit to the HEARTS Veterans Museum, where she announced that the state would be giving $2,000,000 to the Museum:

In June, the Junior Fellows assisted with the groundbreaking of the new CHSS.