VSU’s Mary Alex Carter Represents Georgia at Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship

VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University’s Mary Alex Carter will represent Georgia at the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship 2019 College Student Congress May 12-24.

A total of 51 rising college seniors — one from each state and the District of Columbia — were chosen to gather on the campuses of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, and Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, and learn more about the values and tools for dialogue, negotiation, and compromise. Working alongside lawmakers, academics, journalists, business leaders, and more, Carter and her peers will explore the dynamics of public policy and public policy decision-making through the lens of Henry Clay, Kentucky’s great statesman and compromiser.

During the College Student Congress, Carter will be challenged to interact with students who hold beliefs that differ from her own, to civilly and openly engage in a dialogue about those differences, to learn to listen to the ideas of others, and ultimately, to set those differences aside in the spirit of cooperation in order to achieve progress for the common good.

Carter will also have the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., to take what she has learned about public policy and see it in action in the nation’s capital. She will have an opportunity to meet with politicians, visit government agencies, engage in conversations with private sector players, and explore possible bridges between her academic and professional lives.

Carter anticipates graduating from VSU with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a minor in art in May 2020 and then attending law school. She is a member of the Kappa Beta Chapter of Phi Mu, the VSU College Republicans, the VSU Student Government Association, Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity International, and the Zeta Omega Chapter of Order of Omega. She recently completed an internship at the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Georgia General Assembly. She is the daughter of Doug and Amy Carter of Valdosta, Georgia. 

The Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization seeking to change the nature of the nation’s political discourse and the manner in which the nation approaches ideological divisions by educating both current and future leaders in the principles of statesmanship. Through academic programs, elected official education, and engagement with the American public, the center challenges individuals to listen to those who hold different beliefs from their own, to participate in civil discourse, to identify common ground and shared goals, to build relationships based on personal interactions rather than preconceived notions, and to learn the art of cooperation while maintaining individual convictions and values.