In 1995, Project Children expanded to include university students. Through our Washington-Ireland Program for Service and Leadership (WIP) formally, The Young Leaders Program, outstanding college students from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland get first hand experience in the politics and culture of the United States. They are placed in Internships across America. Many of the WIP interns who come to Washington, DC are placed on Capitol Hill and immediately immersed in America's political scene. It's a heady whirl of highly charged issues, powerful people, and big events. The interns take it all in with wide eyes and big gulps. And when their six-week internships are up, they return home with a fuller understanding of our government and new ways of looking at their own.

"It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life," says Julianne Jennett from Belfast, who was an intern for Congressman Ben Gilman, chairman of the international relations committee in the House of Representatives. "I got to sit in on a meeting between the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the congressman she came to see. And when a British-American Parliamentary Group met on the Hill, I was there. I also got to prepare information folders for congressman traveling to Northern Ireland."

Part of her internship included responding to constituent mail. "I was impressed with how accessible the government is to the average citizen," says Jennett, who is planning to stay active in Politics in Northern Ireland.

"I feel so positive about my experience in Washington," she says. "I know it sounds so American, but I returned home feeling that if I've got the willpower, I can do what I set out to do."

Click here to learn more about the Washington-Ireland Program Interns.