HU WELCOMES FORMER AMBASSADOR TO LIBERIA, LESOTHO

Hampton, VA - The Sixth Annual Hampton University Student Leadership Summit "Finding The Leader In You" will focus on helping young people identify and define their leadership abilities. The Summit, which will be held Nov. 7-10 on Hampton University's campus and the Hampton Holiday Inn and Conference Center, will feature prominent national and local pacesetters, educators and student leaders. The Summit is open to high school juniors and seniors.

Bismarck Myrick, former United States Ambassador to the Republic of Liberia and the Kingdom of Lesotho, will be the keynote speaker.  He will give his address on Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Hampton Holiday Inn.  A Chesapeake, Va. resident and Portsmouth, Va. native, Myrick, was a career member of the Senior Foreign Service of the United States.   He was nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve as Ambassador to the Republic of Liberia from 1999-2002.   Before his assignment to Liberia, he was Diplomat-in- Residence at Spelman College.  He was Ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho from 1995-1998.  He also served as Principal Officer in both Cape Town and Durban, South Africa, 1990-1995. His hometown, Portsmouth, officially proclaimed "Ambassador Bismarck Myrick Days" for June 30 - July 2, 2000, and also named two streets in his honor in January 2002.   Myrick currently serves as university lecturer in international affairs at Old Dominion University.

Workshop sessions at the Summit will focus on increasing young people's self-awareness as it relates to leader development and exploring themselves in relation to others. This workshop will help the young leaders explore their own values and beliefs and its relationship to character, which is the foundation of leadership.

The registration fee is $150, which includes hotel accommodations for three nights, meals, workshop materials and admission to a Hampton University football game; the deadline is Oct. 28.

For more information on the Summit please call (757) 728-6698 or send email to Bettye.Simmons@hamptonu.edu.