Our work experience... with Colin Powell

By Megan Lane
BBC News Online Magazine

When school's out for summer, many teens will get a taste of working life. But few holiday jobs can match that lined up by Nicky Owen and James McClenaghan, a reformed young offender - shadowing Colin Powell.

James McClenaghan and Nicky Owen have no idea what Thursday has in store for them. The 18-year-olds, who flew to the United States on Saturday to take part in a 10-day youth exchange, will spend the day shadowing the Secretary of State, Colin Powell.

But that is all they know. Security in Washington DC is such that their otherwise detailed itinerary has been left blank that day, bar the time they'll be taken to the State Department and picked up again at the end of the working day.

But if past programmes are any guide - this is the third organised by the Foreign Office and the young people's charity Rainer - nothing will be off-limits: one year, the exchangees accompanied Mr Powell as he gave evidence to a congressional hearing.

Past exchangees with Colin Powell

And how best to greet a four-star general who is now one of President Bush's key advisors? James hazards a guess: "Colin - or is it Co-lin? I can't get to grips with that. So I suppose it'll have to be 'sir'."

As well as getting an insider's view of politics at its very highest level, the trip affords the pair the chance to meet American youths in the same position they themselves were once in - excluded from school, in trouble with the authorities, lacking in hope.

Soon after their return, two US teenagers will spend time with the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, and visit youth projects in London and Sheffield.

New hope

James, of Basildon, has a history of drug-taking, heavy drinking and a police record for robbery. This brush with the law gave him the wake-up call he says he needed.

Don't think 'I've got a record, that's it, I've got to do a dead-end job - everybody's got a chance James McClenaghan

"I got a supervision order when I should have got a custodial sentence. It was a slap in the face - since I'd escaped prison it was going to happen next time. I knew I had a second chance and decided not to mess it up."

He gave up drugs, and started helping other young people on a voluntary basis. He has since trained as a mentor for prisoners, and also works for Rainer, running an anti-crime project for 10- to 13-year-olds.

"Kids think at that age that if they get in a fight or get nicked that it's nothing, that it won't affect them when they're 20. But it does. I tell them that they've got to sort it out. And if they have already got in trouble, I let them know that there's life after it. Me and Nicky are living proof of that."

James says he never expected to be short-listed for the exchange, let alone be selected from thousands of applicants.

"I thought there's no way they're going to take someone like me to America to meet Colin Powell - and if they do, they're mad. I'm not used to getting that far with things."

School drop-out

Nicky, from Sheffield, once thought that his future lay behind bars. He regularly got into fights and rarely went to school. "When I did go, the teachers were like 'what are you doing here?' I got the thought that they didn't want me there."

I realised there were other things out there besides fighting and getting into trouble Nicky Owen

He was referred to a local Rainer project, and has since blossomed into a confident young man passionate about helping others out of this downward spiral. He's now one of the charity's volunteer mentors for young people.

"I realised there were other things out there besides fighting and getting into trouble. I'm now doing things that I wouldn't have dreamed of doing before. I want to do youth work to help sort everyone else out. I've been there and done it, so I can help kids out in my situation."

Both hope their presence in the corridors of power will remind politicians just what real life can be like, and are keen to learn how best to help others from other stops on their itinerary, such as visits to deprived schools, a youth court and a native American reservation.

"I want to pack my brain full of information that I can bring back and use in my projects. Then hopefully I can help other people's lives like mine's been changed," James says.