Johnson C. Smith Junior Aaron M. Hutcherson participated in a summer program designed to turn students into better civic leaders. He shares his experiences in his own words:

Institute for Responsible Citizenship

This summer I participated in a program called the Institute for Responsible Citizenship. This program is a highly selective leadership program for black male college students. The goal of the program is to inspire young men to become ideal citizens not only for themselves but for others around them. This is a two-summer program that engages students in two high-level courses and an internship in your selected field. The institute boards students at American University in Washington, D.C. Each summer the institute selects 24 exemplary students who have an opportunity to grow academically while in Washington and at the same time create lifelong bonds with fellow institute brothers.

The internship I did this summer was with Libertas Global Partners, which is a small consulting company in Washington, D.C. The firm specializes in public affairs, government relations, business, and non-profit training. A majority of my time was devoted to researching and developing a think tank web site called Regular Folks United. The web site is intended as a place for people to come forward and address their opinions and common sense commentary about government policies. It's the "Bully Pulpit" for all citizens.

Along with our internships we took two rigorously challenging courses in government and economics. In our government class we dissected the Federalist Papers and a commentary about the Federalist Papers that was written by one of our professors, William B. Allen. In our economics class we looked at economics from the perspective of theorists and how they view economics in society. We also had the opportunity to attend many leadership workshops and we learned about philanthropic work in the Washington area. Nearly all of our classes and workshops took place during weeknights after our daily internships.

One of the most interesting things about the program was getting to meet famous people and leaders. We met Vernon Jordon, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Congressman John Lewis, Washington Mystics owner Sheila Johnson, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

One interesting fact I discovered was that Secretary Rice's father is a Johnson C. Smith University graduate. Since many of the scholars are planning to go on to law school, we had several dinners at the law firms of Nelson & Mullins and Foley & Lardner. This summer was a great opportunity for me to network with important individuals in the Washington area and to create lifelong bonds with other responsible citizens.

Aaron M. Hutcherson

8-26-08