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After a highly competitive selection process, a Leland High School senior has been named as one of two students to represent California as the 200304 delegates to the United States Senate Youth Program.
Deena Saad Shakir, who is vice president of the Leland student council and the student member for the San Jose Unified School District, has a long list of other accomplishments. She is also oratory president of the largest and highest-ranked speech and debate team in the nation, captain of the mock trial team, president of Amnesty International Student Group and president of the Interfaith Club at Leland.
She is credited with founding her school's monthly editorial publication Leland Leviathan, and as editor-in-chief, manages more than 40 contributing writers and a staff of 15.
Shakir, a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, hopes to attend Harvard University, and while she has not yet decided on a major, she says she is considering working in diplomacy, public service, academia or psychiatry.
Shakir was selected from more than 160 applicants statewide and will be among 104 students from across the nation to visit Washington, D.C., from Feb. 28 to March 6, 2004, when they will observe the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, Supreme Court and the Pentagon, as well as tour the Smithsonian Institution.
The program is sponsored by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and operates at no cost to the federal government. In addition to the trip to the nation's capital, each delegate receives a $5,000 college scholarship.
The California delegates and alternates will be recognized by the state Board of Education during its Jan. 7 meeting in Sacramento.
Youth symphony to perform annual holiday concert
If the best things in life are free, every year at this time, the California Youth Symphony proves that there's some solid reasoning behind that old adage. The youth orchestra, whose membership includes young musicians from the Almaden area, presents an annual holiday concert on Dec. 14 that's really a special gift to the community. After all, audiences will get treated, completely gratis, to the talents of young Bay Area performers.
The program for this concert includes Bizet's "L'Arlesienne Suites 1 and 2," selections from Luigini's Ballet Russe, Auber's "Bronze Horse Overture" and Liszt's "Mephisto Waltz," as well as Tchaikovsky's Nutracker Suite and other traditional holiday favorites.
California Youth Symphony presents a holiday concert on Dec. 14 at 2:30 p.m. Free. Smithwick Theatre, Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Rd, Los Altos Hills, 650.325.6666 or www.cys.org.
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