FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:   Elissa Ruffino (NIAF) 202/939-3106202/939-3106 or elissa@niaf.org

** National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) Students To Leaders Program**

(WASHINGTON, DC – July 8, 2002) Eighty Italian American students were recently selected to participate in the Students to Leaders (S2L) Program, educational workshops for incoming junior and senior high school students, sponsored by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF).

More than 500 incoming junior and senior high school students of Italian ancestry applied to the Foundation’s S2L Program. The NIAF all expenses-paid programs in New York City and Washington, DC will help the students develop leadership skills in the areas of business and finance or government and public policy.

Forty students will participate in the Government/Public Policy S2L Workshop in Washington, DC from July 10 -14, 2002 to explore the political world of today. In the nation’s capital, students will meet with: Sam Donaldson, ABC News correspondent; United States Representative Mike Ferguson of New Jersey; Patricia De Stacy Harrison, assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs in the United States Department of State. Students will also attend meetings at the Motion Picture Association of America and engage in an interactive leadership and team building session.

In New York City on July 17 through July 21, 2002, another forty students will attend the Business/Finance S2L Workshop for an in-depth look at the center of international business and finance. During the four-day summit in New York City, students will meet with: Stephen Aiello, chairman of Cohn & Wolfe; Bill Tonelli, assistant managing editor of Rolling Stone Magazine; and Vincent Viola, chairman of NYMEX Holdings and the New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. Students will also attend a meeting at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).