June 12, 2014

Last week, nine delegates from California’s Averroes High School traveled to Washington, DC, to experience three days of MPAC’s DC Civic Summit. Delegates received leadership training and had the opportunity to meet with the White House Office of Public Engagement, the U.S. Department of State, Rock the Vote, Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) office, as well as Congressman Mike Honda’s (D-CA) office.

SEE: Photo Album of Averroes High School's DC Civic Summit (Facebook)

The summit kicked-off with a political landscape and issue framing workshop led by MPAC staff. The following day, delegates met with Rashad Hussain, U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and Arsalan Suleman, Deputy Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) at the U.S. Department of State. The summit continued with a visit to Rock the Vote, where delegates engaged in an energetic conversation with Rock the Vote President, Ashley Spillane, and Field and Operations Manager, Maura LaMendola.

On the final day of the summit, following a tour of Capitol Hill, the delegates met with Rep. Mike Honda’s (D-CA) Congressional Fellow, Kelly Honda. They also met with the White House Office of Public Engagement’s staff, including Special Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Director of Public Engagement Marlon Marshall and staff assistant Zaid Hassan. A surprise sighting of Vice President Joe Biden wrapped up our meeting at the White House.

“It was inspiring to see many of the delegates transform throughout the summit as they experienced Washington, DC for the first time,” said Riham Osman, MPAC Program Assistant. “Their excitement for civic engagement and change increased with each meeting we attended, which showed me the effectiveness of this summit.”  

In addition to government meetings and MPAC workshops, the summit included a career workshop with business consultant Mona Haggag and a social media workshop with American Muslim blogger and Young Leader alum Laila Alawa. The summit provided the young leaders the opportunity to engage with government officials and seek advice on potential future career paths.