Carrying out the mission of a US President is no mean feat, but Adio Robinson, selected as a representative of Bermuda at a People to People Leadership Summit in Washington DC this summer, is ready to take on the task.

People to People, according to the website www.lsleaders.org, traces its heritage back to 1956, when President Dwight Eisenhower called a special White House meeting of American leaders, who joined him in creating the People to People initiative. Its mission to establish "peace through understanding".

President Eisenhower "believed that ordinary citizens of different nations, if able to communicate directly, would solve their differences and find a way to live in peace". That people can make a difference where governments cannot is People to People's fundamental premise.

Adio will join some of the best and brightest junior high school students from the US and other countries at George Washington University in July this year to learn important leadership skills needed for success in today's competitive global society.

While preparing for success in college and beyond, Adio will have unique access to some of the world's most fascinating people and establish friendships with like-minded students from around the globe.

As part of the programme, students work on an action plan to make a difference in their communities, develop skills to help them lead tomorrow's world, and build their college résumés while earning academic credit.

Proposed by his school, the Bermuda Institute, Adio was selected as a delegate for 2007, but had to defer his attendance until this year. Though not an 'A' student, the 18-year-old has shown leadership qualities in school and the wider community, as an active Bermuda Boy Scout, member of the Bermuda Institute Choir and volunteer with Habitat for Humanity in Romania in 2006.

He was second runner up in the recent Bermuda Teen Idol Competition and this year has been nominated for the Outstanding Teen award in the area of Performing Arts.

While working hard towards his school graduation next year, he is also a trainee chef at the Fairmont Southampton Resort.

The honour does not come without a price, however, and Adio is working hard to get together the $4,000 needed to cover the cost of the airfare and the participation fee.

The money he earns as a trainee chef will only go so far, and he is looking to the community to help him meet the shortfall. In the pipeline are a potluck dinner and gospel concert, though details have not be established at this point.