Mixed Moss

My little sister is the coolest kid in the world. I mean it. Not only does she listen to me rant about world development and social reform in an incredibly open-minded and tolerant manner, considering the fact that we seem to disagree on a lot, and not only is she going to be a Marine someday, but she is a super-duper over-achiever (and the most unlikely person you’d ever peg for that role) and gets photographed with Very Important People. And she’s so laid back about it. You can tell she’d never get a big head about any of it.

She is involved in the Civil Air Patrol (the civilian arm of the US Air Force which is called in on search-and-rescue stuff), and went to some national leadership training thing in DC with them last summer. While there, she so impressed a member of the State department who is a representative to the Organization of American States (sort of like the North and South America version of a combination of the European Commission and the UN) that they asked the people in charge of the conference to send a delegation of two of their best and brightest CAP cadets to the annual OAS convention!!! So, naturally, they sent Jackie. She met all kinds of fabulous and interesting and important people. And she escorted press personel and photographers around; as in, they weren’t allowed to be there without her as an escort. Pretty sweet. She met the guy who took the photo of Elian Gonzales that was on the cover of…Time, or something like that. Anyways. Here’s a photo and the article that’s on the website.

According to the CAP website:

Civic Cadets Go International

The Civic Leadership Academy (CLA) has the great pleasure of announcing that two CLA cadets have a once in a lifetime opportunity to see international affairs in action and meet U.S. and foreign government officials from the Western Hemisphere.

C/Col Sharon Weeks of North Carolina and C/Maj Jackie Briski of Ohio will represent the Civil Air Patrol as members of the United States Delegation at the Organization of American States’ General Assembly, June 5 - 7, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

The OAS is “the premiere forum for multi-lateral dialogue and concerned action” in the Western Hemisphere. The OAS General Assembly was last hosted by the U.S. Government in 1974. This year Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice will serve as chair for the General Assembly.

This opportunity came about through the Civic Leadership Academy’s partnership with the State Department. After meeting the CLA cadets at State a few weeks ago, Ambassador John F. Maisto asked CAP to select two cadets to serve on the U.S. delegation at the OAS General Assembly. It is a fabulous honor and terrific opportunity for our cadets!

With Maj Gen Wheless’s permission, we selected one top-performing cadet from the CLA class of 2004 (C/Col Weeks) and another from the class of 2005 (C/Maj Briski).

Please join me in congratulating Cadets Weeks and Briski on this fabulous opportunity! Thank you for your continued support of the Civic Leadership Academy.

Sincerely,

AMY S. COURTER, Col, CAP
Director, Civic Leadership Academy

Ohio’s C/Maj jackie Briski (foreground) is pictured with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (Right) in Ft. Lauderdale. Cadet Briski and North Carolina’s C/Col Sharon Weeks served on the U.S. delegation to the Organization of American States in June 2005. The cadets’ duties included escorting journalists, shadowing State Department officials, and learning about international relations. Both cadets are graduates of CAP’s Civic Leadership Academy.

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