2001 Future Leaders Program Award Winners

THOMAS HARMON of Bothell, WA, is a philosophy major, and attends Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, where he has started several extracurricular intellectual and service organizations. He founded and is president of the Edmund Burke Society, a conservative intellectual discussion group. It has covered topics such as the free market, the necessity of religious practice to sustain a free society, and the importance of a core curriculum, and has discussed the ideas of philosophers such as Chesterton, Coleridge, and Aquinas. He also founded and is president of the Gonzaga Socratic Club and the Gonzaga We Believe Catechism study group. He is a leader in the campus Right to Life club and Knights of Columbus. He has contributed to several periodicals, including Gonzaga's campus paper. "I (believe) that a free society is entirely dependent on the nurture and exercise of public virtue," Tom says. "Without Judeo-Christian social norms, our society would crumble, for these norms are found at the heart of the Constitution and the values set down in it." Says a professor: "Tom is an exceptional leader who is clear-thinking, highly principled, and deeply committed to the philosophical foundations on which this country stands." Another says: "Tom is a bright conservative student who not only initiates an activity but is able to bring it to completion. I'm not exactly sure what he does that the others didn't, but his presence and impact [at Gonzaga] have been truly remarkable."

TINA TRAN attends the University of Tulsa. The junior from Broken Arrow, OK, known for her writing, research and debate skills, majors in economics and environmental policy. She is of Vietnamese heritage, and in 1999 lived in Vietnam for eight months while visiting relatives. Her encounters with the stifling repression of its Communist government energized her to work with organizations promoting democratic principles. She served as a coordinator for the American-Vietnam Cultural Exchange Association, which encourages cross-cultural awareness and engages in humanitarian projects to introduce Vietnamese to American concepts of rights and values. She also worked for Pacific Ventures, Inc., a corporation employing trade as a method to help make the Vietnamese regime more open to international influences and greater freedom. A member of the student government, Tina is a leader in the Oklahoma Federation of College Republicans and, last year, was chairwoman of the Tulsa club. She has organized and worked on voter registration drives, roundtable discussions, and political debates on campus, in the Tulsa area, and statewide. She has volunteered on political campaigns and, since 1999, has been a legislative assistant to State Senator Scott Pruitt, who says that she "is unlike any other college student I have ever met" because of her drive and dedication. "Tina is exceptional," states a senior Tulsa professor. Her ability to succeed is "confirmation of my early judgement that she [is] particularly gifted and [possesses] the self-discipline to be effective when challenged."

JASON BUHI of Brunswick, MD, attends Shepherd College in West Virginia, where he reorganized and revitalized a student Republican club. In the 2000 campaigns, he led his club in organizing debates, voter registration drives, a Voter Education Day on campus, and other activities on behalf of national, state and local GOP candidates, including helping in the upset victory of Shelley Moore Capito, the first Republican elected to Congress from West Virginia in 20 years. He participates in a variety of charitable activities and is an accomplished musician, having participated in high school and college ensembles and the Baltimore Ravens Marching Band. One of Shepherd College's top professors says Jason "is one of the most conscientious and mature students I have ever met. He is diligent and committed and is wise beyond his years…(He) is such a well-prepared and dedicated student that his example speaks volumes."

CALVIN K. COOLIDGE of Ashburn, VA, is a student at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. Originally from Georgia, where his father was mayor of the town where he was born, he notes that his family has always been active in politics and public service, and he has been inspired to follow in that tradition. He has been active in conservative youth politics since his early high school days, participating in the leadership and training programs of Young America's Foundation and the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, among others. He helped organize college Republican organizations and has been active in many political campaigns and projects to battle student apathy and promote better understanding of the principles of freedom. He is the director of marketing and Web master for Freedom Alliance, Oliver North's political action and education organization. Calvin is an independent Web design consultant, radio producer, and sound technician. "I have found (Calvin) to be one of the most mature and responsible young men I've met since leaving the Marines," Col. North has said.

Kyle A. Harper of Edmond, OK, is a junior at the University of Oklahoma. He sports a 4.0 grade point average and is pursuing a double major in Letters and History. Over the summer he studied in England. As a freshman at Oklahoma, Kyle spearheaded the founding of the award-winning The Fountainhead, a biweekly alternative student newspaper circulated on four campuses and which boasts the fifth-largest circulation of all newspapers in the state. "There’s something that defies description about actually holding in your hand what was once just a crazy idea and seeing the headlines, smelling the ink, knowing that other students will read it," he says. Kyle is active in the College Republicans and has volunteered for several political campaigns. He is the campus representative for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, executive director of Sooners for the Second Amendment, and vice-president of Sooners for Life. He hosts a monthly cable TV public affairs program, "Oklahoma Politics and You," and formerly produced and co-hosted a prime time radio news/talk program. As one professor says about Kyle, "(his) impact on the university campus is unprecedented in my fifteen years of teaching."

Jaime D. Sneider, of Scarsdale, NY, is a junior at Columbia University, where he is majoring in American History and Economics. He is editorial page editor as well as a featured opinion columnist for the Columbia Daily Spectator, the official campus newspaper. He is also the host and producer of "Late City Live," a talk show aired over WKCR-FM, New York City whose guests have included several nationally known figures. As a freshman, outraged by the disruption of a conservative speaker’s appearance at Columbia by campus liberals, Jaime quickly became active in projects to protect free speech and combat "political correctness" on campus.

He plans to pursue a journalism career with emphasis on public policy analysis and interpretation. He has already had freelance articles published in the New York Times, Washington Times, and other major periodicals. A prominent liberal professor, writing about Jaime, observed that "over the years I’ve had a number of conservative Columbia students in my classes…and I think I can genuinely say that Mr. Sneider blows the rest of them out of the water," adding that "life from the faculty point of view would be a lot more interesting if there were more Sneiders in the student population."

Michael Anderson of Olney, MD, is a senior at Salisbury State University, Salisbury, MD, majoring in political science. In high school, he organized a Teen-Age Republican (TAR) club, started a political newsletter, The Congress Control, and helped found TAR and conservative student groups at other high schools in his home county. He participated in debates televised by C-SPAN and was named Outstanding National TAR for 1996 by the National TAR Federation. As a freshman at Salisbury State, he founded The Liberty, an alternative student paper, and raised more than $4,000 through direct mail and personal solicitation to finance it. Michael has been extensively involved in political campaigns and grassroots activism throughout Maryland and this summer worked on the national staff of the College Republicans. Strongly goal-oriented, he is working to organize a cadre of 1,000 young conservative advocates in Maryland who will help change the political landscape in the state. A top political leader in Maryland has said that "what impresses me most about (him) is the boundless energy and enthusiasm with which he approaches everything he does."

Michael R. Willits of Nampa, ID, is a senior at Boise State University majoring in Business. He formerly attended Idaho State University, where he was student body president. During his term he organized the High School Leadership Conference, now an annual event, which brought leaders to the campus from across the state to learn and share experiences. His theme for the program’s first year was "Leading with Character." He also served as chairman of the Idaho College Republicans and is currently co-chairman of the Idaho Young Republican Federation. In these positions he has traveled statewide, encouraging young people to become involved in the political process. He has visited several Asian nations and was in the Republic of China on Taiwan when it held its first open elections. Despite threats from the Communist mainland, thousands stood in long lines to vote. "I saw how much a vote meant to them," he says. "From that point on I vowed to do all I am able to promote the cause of freedom and democratic values." Michael plans to be an entrepreneur, having already gained wide experience in the business world as well as assisting government agencies at home and abroad in promoting business development. On campus, he has helped organize grassroots efforts to challenge "political correctness" and advance the ideas of liberty embodied in the American Founding.