Washington, D.C.–The International Leadership Foundation (ILF) has accepted 50 students from a record-breaking 200 applicants for its summer fellowship program.

Most of the ILF fellows come from Ivy League institutes, such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, and Stanford. They hold leadership positions, possess outstanding GPAs, and most important, have a passion for public service.

ILF Chief Executive Officer Chiling Tong said that for 12 years now, ILF “has been promoting public service, involvement, and effectiveness of Asian Pacific Americans.”

This year, ILF fellows were placed in various federal agencies for their internship: 18 federal agencies and 28 different offices, ranging from the Department of Labor in the Bureau of International Labor to the Department of Commerce, Office of Patent and Trademark.

Esther Lee, a junior at Harvard College, Psychology major with a minor in Government and a language citation in Chinese, will be interning with the State Department, U.S. Embassy in Beijing. With special interest in the U.S.-East Asia Pacific relations, she hopes to pursue a career in either Foreign Service or the United Nations.

Deanne Chen is a senior at University of California, Berkeley, double majoring in English Literature and Rhetoric. She has been placed in the White House for her internship. Deanne hopes to pursue a career in law.

The ILF is dedicated and committed to fostering the 2nd generation of Asian Pacific Americans in becoming not only responsible citizens, but also proactive leaders in the country. Former ILF fellow Michael Wu is back in Washington, D.C. this summer to assist in coordinating the fellowship program.

“We are standing on shoulders of pioneers. It is imperative to have the APA community continue to be represented in the nation,” he said. Wu recently graduated from James Madison University. He will pursue his Masters in Public Policy this fall.

Former U.S. Transportation and Commerce Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and former U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao served as honorary ILF Chairs. They are the first APAs to serve in the President’s Cabinet. For more information about ILF,visit www.ILEADER.org.