Huffman selected as the 2013 Madison Congressional Fellow
April 22, 2013
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The James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation of Washington, D.C. announced that it has selected Kimberly Huffman, a James Madison Fellow and teacher in the Wayne County Schools Career Center in Smithville, as the 2013 Madison Congressional Fellow. Huffman will spend one month this summer working as an intern in the office of Congressman Jim Renacci (OH-16.)
I plan to use my experiences to convey to my students the behind-the-scenes point of view, said Huffman. I want to observe and participate in the duties of staff members and immerse myself in the details of the legislative process. Hearing about these experiences will empower my students to become actively engaged citizens.
Huffman was selected in 2008 as the Ohio recipient of the James Madison Fellowship. Named in honor of the fourth president of the United States and acknowledged Father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, a James Madison Fellowship funds up to $24,000 of each Fellows course of study toward a masters degree. That program must include a concentration of courses on the history and principles of the United States Constitution.
The James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation will pay for Huffmans travel, housing, food and transportation, as well as providing a living stipend for the month. She will be housed in a dorm room on the Georgetown University campus.
Since Kimberly has a masters degree, she will be capable of doing almost any task you assign to her, wrote Claire McCaffery Griffin, director of special projects at the foundation, to the Congressmans Chief of Staff. It might be best to assign her to work with (a liaison) or yourself for the month. She should be able to do research, write floor statements, help with committee testimony and help draft speeches. If there is any way Kimberly can tag along with the congressman for a couple of days, that would be terrific.
The fellowships are funded by income from a trust fund in the Treasury of the United States and from additional private gifts, corporate contributions and foundation grants. Recipients are required to teach American history or social studies in a secondary school for at least one year for each year of fellowship support. The award is intended to recognize promising and distinguished teachers, to strengthen their knowledge of the origins and development of American constitutional government and thus to expose the nations secondary school students to accurate knowledge of the nations constitutional heritage. Fellows are eligible to apply for the Congressional Fellowship when they have completed both the academic degree and their teaching obligation.
Founded by an Act of Congress in 1986, the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation is an independent agency of the executive branch of the federal government. Additional information may be found at www.jamesmadison.gov.
Huffman and her husband, Mick, have two daughters and live near Smithville. She has taught Social Studies at the career center since 2000. She graduated with a masters (MAHG) from Ashland University in 2011.
