House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Minority Whip Roy Blunt Help Kick Off ACYPL’s First Event of 2007

On February 15, over one hundred distinguished guests, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (USSR ‘88) (Md.), House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (Belgium ‘89) (Mo.), other alumni members of Congress, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Dina Habib Powell and members of the Diplomatic Corps, joined ACYPL at a reception in the Mansfield Room of the U.S. Capitol Building to recognize ACYPL alumni recently elected to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Fêted were Robert Menendez (Honduras '88) (N.J.) who was recently elected to the U.S. Senate, House members Steve Cohen (Japan '86) (Tenn.), Gabrielle Giffords (Vietnam '01) (Ariz.), Kevin McCarthy (China '95) (Calif.), Adrian Smith (Tanzania '04) (Neb.), Betty Sutton (Hungary '93) (Ohio), Joe Courtney (United Kingdom '90) (Ct.) and Peter Welch (USSR '86) (Vt.), along with Baron Hill (USSR '85) (Ind.) who won back his House seat.

In his remarks, Representative Hoyer, who has been involved with ACYPL since the organization’s founding more than 40 years ago, recalled with fondness his participation in ACYPL exchanges and lauded the important work that ACYPL is doing to educate rising political leaders about world affairs and connect them with their counterparts around the world. For his part, Representative Blunt, a former ACYPL trustee, noted that his participation in the ACYPL exchange to Portugal in 1983 provided him with his first opportunity to travel abroad. Representative Blunt also said that first experience convinced him of the value of traveling internationally and led him to remain involved with ACYPL.

Also speaking were Assistant Secretary Powell, Deborah M. Hohlt (China ‘98), President of ACYPL’s Board of Trustees and the Board’s Executive Vice President, Leo C. Jardot (China ‘03), who served as Master of Ceremonies.

Commenting on the election of ACYPL alumni to the U.S. Congress, ACYPL Chief Executive Officer Brad Minnick (Morocco ‘05) said, “The fact that more than one in ten members of the House Freshman class in the 110th Congress is an ACYPL alumnus really highlights the important work ACYPL is doing to educate rising, young political leaders about international affairs and U.S. foreign policy.”

Click here to view photos taken at the reception.

Click here to see news coverage of the reception.
(Courtesy of The Politico – www.politco.com)