Student Body President Travels to Russia

January 19, 2011 – Georgetown student body president Calen Angert (B’11) met with Russian government officials and business leaders on a cultural exchange trip to Moscow this past fall.

“It was a very eye-opening experience,” he says of the trip, sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Youth and the U.S. Library of Congress’ Open World Leadership Center.

The trip sought to encourage civic engagement among students, leaders and citizens of the two countries, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of State.

Russian Leaders

Angert and 14 other student body presidents from colleges and universities across the U.S. spent eight days in Moscow meeting with government and business leaders,  including Svetlana Zhurova, vice-speaker of the State Duma; Vladimir Slesarev, deputy chair of the Supreme Commercial Court; and Vladislav Surkov, President Dmitry Medvedev’s first deputy chief of staff.

“I really think [the goal of the program] was to establish a set of dialogue,” Angert says.

The Georgetown student president says he found what he saw as Surkov’s “openness” surprising.

“He was pretty candid,” he says. “We got to ask about human rights issues and things that would generally be hot-button topics.”

Silicon Valley

The group also met with young Russian entrepreneurs.

As a business student, Angert found it fascinating to observe the accomplishments of these businessmen and women, many of whom contributed to Russia’s Skolkovo project – a high-technology center of innovation akin to America’s Silicon Valley.

“I think that working in Russia [someday] would be an incredible opportunity,” says Angert, who after graduating plans to work in investment banking.

The business major says the trip also allowed him to “look at American culture and say ‘Oh, that’s how others perceive it.’ It allowed me to assess my culture in a way that I rarely have the chance of doing.”