CHS junior chosen for participation in Princeton program

Coeur d’Alene High School junior Haley Cohen learned last month that she has been selected to attend the 2005 session of the Junior Statesman Summer School at Princeton University, in Princeton, N.J. The only thing stopping this bright young lady is that, after receiving a $600 scholarship from the program, she still needs another $3,000 for tuition plus money for travel expenses and food.

The program will be held June 26 through July 21. Only 250 students from the entire country are selected to participate in this school, where they study government, politics and political communication. The students will also participate in nightly debates of controversial public policy and meet with high-level members of government, business and the media.

Cohen, an Idaho Top Scholar, aspires to be an archeologist, and then go into politics when she is older.

“You might as well learn about the past before trying to make a future,” Cohen said.

This will be Cohen’s first time away from home for an extended period. Her family moved to Coeur d’Alene 13 years ago from California.Cohen is an executive mentor in the Ignite Mentoring program, member of the National Honor Society, and is nominated for inclusion to both the National Society of High School Scholars and Who’s Who Among High School Students. She tutors other students, is on the student and choir councils and will be going to Girls State in Boise one week before the New Jersey trip. Girls States, sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary, is a program designed to teach the students about government.

Cohen has sent letters to several local businesses and to both the Idaho women’s Democratic and Republican caucuses seeking assistance for the trip to Princeton.