Two Harvard students were among 50 college seniors to participate in the International Leadership Center's first annual Leadership America Program this summer.

The students, Leverett residents Elisa Fernandez '88 and Andrea N. Shlipak '88, divided 10 weeks' time among formal leadership classes, the Outward Bound program and self-designed internships.

Fernandez interned in Mexico with the Asesoria Dinamica A Microemprisas, an organization providing economic help to victims of the country's recent earthquakes. Shlipak worked in Chicago with the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse and assisted a local rabbi.

"Leadership is not something you're born with, you have to develop it," said Shlipak. "It was the best thing I've ever done...Your brain is working so much," she added.

Fernandez said that the program emphasized self-awareness and group dynamics as means of attaining long-term goals. The program also sought to develop a network among the 50 participants, who plan to reunite every two years to maintain their connections.

The students travelled across the country during their first five weeks, as the program took them from North Carolina to Colorado to Texas. Each participant received a $3000 scholarship, and the program paid for most travel expenses.

Fernandez is a Social Studies concentrator from Las Vegas, Nev., and Shlipak is a Social Anthropology concentrator from Dallas, Tex.

Both learned of the program through the Office of Career Services, and were selected from a pool of 1200 applicants who had to demonstrate leadership potential as well as academic excellence. The International Leadership Center, a non-profit organization, required three recommendations and four essays of the applicants.