Young minds are like surging waves which if properly directed can render any pasture green. Energy, enthusiasm and excitement always accompany the youths; they eagerly jump to new challenges and put their mind, body and soul in it. Such tremendous potential needs to be properly channelised.
National Youth Leadership forum founded in 1992 in USA is working in this direction. National Youth Leadership forum, a non-profit organization working in collaboration with Envision, EMI of USA, nurtures the young minds enabling them to become better future professionals. Their programs are designed for high school and university students. Held in nine different cities across the country the programs are offered in national security, law and medicine. These programs are very popular among the student community and till date, about 100,000 students have successfully participated in it.
GPA of 3.7 on a scale of 4 is a must for any student who is desirous to attend the program. If one is unable to meet these criteria then one has to provide a letter of recommendation from an academic source such as a teacher and from a supervisor who is in charge of extracurricular activities. Course expenditure may exceed 00, which excludes other expenditures such as transportation cost and other additional cost. The tuition fees collected from the students are used to fund the programs and NYLF also provide scholarships to needy and meritorious students.
The National Youth Leadership forum has a strong alumni network wherein the alumni keep themselves abreast of the latest happenings in the NYLF. The online community is comprised of past, present and future candidates. In 2002, the members of the online community went on to form a message board and they also have IRC (Internet relay chat) server. The NYLF staff now maintains the message board whereas the IRC server is taken care by the alumni community.
Programs in national security, law and defense by National Youth Leadership forum exposes the eager young minds to the new world where they get an opportunity to interact with the experts, which help them to understand the world in a much better manner.
The program on law is held in Washington D.C. The students get an opportunity to visit the local courts, the federal courts and also the Supreme Court. The legal experts help the participants to understand the intricacies of law in an easy and effective way.
The program in medicine is held at well-known medical centers such as San Francisco, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. Houston-Galveston and Phoenix. Here the distinguished medical experts from international community provide an insight into the intricacies of the medicine and help them to understand the subject to their utmost satisfaction.
How the nation’s sovereignty is protected and how to deal with external threats? This puzzles the participants. However, when they get an opportunity to visit the country’s nerve centre, where important decisions are taken then most of their doubts are taken care of. The top brass of the government explains the participants about the national security program. Indeed, the efforts taken by National Youth Leadership forum are highly commendable.
