Meadows Student Selected for Prestigious Program With The Institute For Responsible Citizenship

Journalism and computer science student Kirk Ogunrinde has been selected for the Washington Program’s Class of 2024 with The Institute For Responsible Citizenship. The Institute aims to prepare the nation’s best and brightest African American male college students to use their extraordinary talents to serve others and chooses a select few students to participate in its prestigious Washington Program.

Ogunrinde, who is a Mustang Scholar and Rotunda Scholar recipient, is one of only 12 students selected nationwide to participate in this highly competitive Program. Once selected, students commit to the intensive two-summer program that will include high-level internships in their areas of interest, seminars on economic and constitutional principles, and comprehensive leadership and professional development workshops.

"The Institute invites mayors, governors, and experts in various fields to meet with us, and having the opportunity to learn from people I’ve only read about in books or seen on television is mind blowing," says Ogunrinde. "I am also looking forward to meeting the other young men in my cohort who have made it this far in their own unique ways."

While notable academic success is something that each student selected for the Washington Program has achieved, the 12 young men of the Class of 2024 have a variety of career goals and future aspirations. From international relations and data journalism to political science and law, their diverse backgrounds and interests give them the opportunity to not only learn from industry leaders, but from each other. The Institute also places great importance on the character of its Washington Program participants and emphasizes that these young men can make the greatest impact by working together to serve their communities, our nation and the world.

"Kirk is honest, dependable, and incredibly hard-working," says Professor Annette Nevins, who taught Ogunrinde in her News Reporting class in the fall of 2022 and recommended him for the Program. "He is an impressive young man who is already doing great things and one to watch in the future."