WASHINGTON, D.C. – Richard Curtis of Sabattus participated in the Junior National Young Leaders Conference from June 28 through July 3. The conference is a leadership development program for middle school students.

The theme was “The Legacy of American Leadership” and the curriculum led students through the evolution of the United States, from the days of the original 13 colonies through the signing of the Declaration of Independence, from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Movement and from the Boston Tea Party through to the present.

“One of the key elements of the Junior National Young Leaders Conference is to allow students like Richard Curtis the opportunity to place their feet in the same footsteps of our country’s forefathers,” said Mike Lasday, executive director of the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, which sponsors the conference.

“By actually walking the Halls of Congress this program provides faces and places to historic events, thereby eliminating much of the abstract nature of studying history solely through books.”

Curtis participated in a congressional reception on Capitol Hill, where students met with a variety of members from the U.S. House of Representatives. Curtis visited Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, the Smithsonian Institution’s American History Museum and the Maryland Science Center.

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