Dear Friend:

We are pleased to share with you that Esther Jihea So has been admitted to the Spring 2026 Internship of the Young Leaders Program (YLP) of The Heritage Foundation. The Internship will run from January 12th through April 10th.

Jihea is a sophomore at the George Washington University studying International Affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs. She has volunteered with ICAS for over eight years, having accumulated valuable experience in global policy issues via the ICAS Symposium programs. On August 12, 2024, Jihea was awarded the Certificate of Achievement for the completion of The Academy of the YLP by the Philip N Truluck Center for Leadership Development of The Heritage Foundation. The Academy ran from June 13th through July 25th of 2024.

Jihea presented her work product on The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway at the 2023 ICAS Summer Symposium (https://www.icasinc.org/2023/2023s/s230812a.html) and earned a recognition of Winner Qualifier (WQ) with Honorable Mention. She has been a member of the ICAS Youth Excellence Program of the ICAS Youth Academy since 2017 (ICAS Leadership Training Conference).

Jihea is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and a graduate of Langley High School Class of 2024 in McLean, Virginia. The ICAS Youth Excellence Program has produced, to date, two AEI Interns, one Eagle Scout, one Harvard JFK School, seven Heritage Foundation Interns, one Hudson Institute Intern, one Rhodes Scholar, two Samsung Electronics Corporation Interns, one US Congressional Arts Awardee, two US Congressional Interns, and six White House interns and five law students, five medical students, two assistant professors and one professor among other aspiring students.

Thank you.