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Speak Up

The granddaughter of a Bathurst couple attended a leadership conference in Washington, D.C. earlier this month.

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Delaney Losier, granddaughter of Lorne and Diane Stymiest of Bathurst, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The photograph was taken in Fredericton last month at a barbecue held in the PM’s honour.

Delaney Losier, 13, lives in Quispamsis but is the granddaughter of Lorne and Diane Stymiest of Youghall Drive. Her mom is the Stymiests' daughter, Shalene.

The leadership conference Delaney attended was from Sept. 15 to 21 and was co-ordinated by People to People, an organization founded by former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower.

More than 100 youths from across the world participated, but only six were Canadians. Participants toured historical sites and monuments around Washington

They met with a U.S. senator and got to have a meal in the Senate Dining Room, where well-known politicians such as John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton often eat.

Delaney had to raise the $2,400 she needed for the trip herself by collecting donations and fixing fishing poles and cleaning kayaks at a day camp .

She and three other students at Centre scolaire Samuel-de-Champlain were nominated for the People to People program by officials at their school. The acceptance letters for all four arrived last February.

"They say I was nominated based on my academics and my leadership qualities because I like to do stuff with the school so I think that probably played a part in it,"said Delaney, a Girl Guide whose favourite school subjects are math and science.

(Condensed and rewritten from an article by Candice MacLean in the Sept. 12 edition of the Brunswick News publication KV Style.)