Class President Will Fleck Returns from National Student Leadership Conference at Georgetown University

West Roxbury, Mass.-- When asked about his favorite memory from over the summer, Catholic Memorial School’s Senior Class President Will Fleck looks back on the time he met the Deputy to the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia.

Will remembers taking in every word.

“He was the most interesting person I met,” said Will, a resident of Hull.

“He grew up in Brooklyn, which I found so interesting. I couldn’t believe that I had the chance to meet a person who possesses as much influence as he does around the world.”

The foreign diplomat represented one of the countless leaders Will met while representing CM at the National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC) this past August in Washington D.C.

At the conference, he participated in the International Diplomacy and Intelligence and National Security program provided on Georgetown University’s campus.

“At the NSLC, you will gain an insider’s perspective on a future career as you meet with nationally renowned engineers, researchers, and professors,” wrote NSLC Executive Director Mr. Rick Duffy in a letter to Will before the conference.

Every year for the past 30 years, the NSLC selects a group of student leaders from across the country and around the world to go behind-the-scenes of important corporate, research, and government institutions, according to Mr. Duffy.

Whenever the NSLC selects students, the organization gives them the chance to study a potential career while attending workshops on one of 14 college campuses across the country.

“They said that I’d get to choose where I want to go and what I’d get to study,” said Will.

“I could choose where I wanted to go. You could do business. You could do marine biology.”

When he saw the opportunity to travel and study international diplomacy in Washington D.C., he knew that he needed to look no further. He said that he loves politics and saw few places to study the topic better than in the nation’s capital.

“What’s unique about Washington D.C. is that you’re in the middle of the American political universe,” said Will.

“It jumped off the page for me, personally.”

At the conference, Will attended leadership development workshops where he learned to communicate effectively, enhance his public speaking skills, and resolve conflicts.

He also received invitations to participate in lectures that gave him a better understanding of international diplomacy, central intelligence, and national security. While visiting the Embassy of the German Federation, Will said that he and other students in the program performed mock trial negotiations based on varying circumstances and scenarios.

Going into the summit, Will believes that CM’s Model U.N. prepared him on how to best engage in discussions about diplomacy and national security.

“If I went down and didn’t do Model U.N., sure I might know that there is a problem going on in Iraq or with the climate,” said Will.

“But, I wouldn’t know that, in Iraq, the country is divided between Sunnis and Shiites and that there isn’t a stable government. Or, I wouldn’t know that large amounts of oil is released into the ocean daily.”

Aside from staying well informed on the different conflicts occurring around the world, Will believes that CM’s Model U.N. program gave him the work ethic to go “the extra mile.”

“You need to be prepared and have done your research on a given current-events topic,” he said.

Next year, when Will enrolls at a university, he wants to continue studying political science and law. But, for now, he looks forward to the possibility of landing an internship at either the Office of the National Security Advisory or the Central Intelligence Agency.