Press Release 03/15/2006

WHITE HOUSE FELLOW TO ADDRESS 67th SESSION OF MISSOURI BOYS STATE

(WARRENSBURG, MO) – Eric Greitens, a White House Fellow, Navy SEAL Commander and Missouri Boys State alum will deliver the keynote address at the final evening assembly of the 67th session at The American Legion Boys State of Missouri, Inc. on Friday, June 23rd at Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg.

Greitens will address nearly 1,000 of Missouri’s finest high school leaders who are participating in a week-long citizenship and leadership training program sponsored by the Missouri American Legion.

Greitens is widely considered one of the most accomplished alumni in Missouri Boys State history. He was selected by President George W. Bush as a White House Fellow and currently works in the Housing and Urban Development Department in Washington D.C. He was an Angier B. Duke Scholar at Duke University where he graduated with a degree in ethics and public policy. Selected as a Rhodes and Truman Scholar, he attended the University of Oxford from 1996 through 2000. There he earned a master’s degree in development studies in 1998, and a doctorate in politics in 2000. His research was driven by his humanitarian work in war zones, and his thesis, 'Children First', investigated the ways in which international humanitarian organizations can best serve war-affected children. He has worked as a humanitarian volunteer, documentary photographer, and researcher in Croatia, Rwanda, Zaire, the Gaza Strip, Albania, Cambodia, (Chiapas) Mexico, Bolivia, and India.

He also served as a United States Navy SEAL officer during the war on terrorism. He has served as the Commander of a Mark V Detachment, responsible for leading two Special Operations Craft and 20 men in the conduct of operations against known terrorists. He also deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, where he conducted operations to support the capture of terrorist leadership. His next assignment will be as the Task Unit Commander for all Naval Special Warfare Boat Forces in CENTCOM.

While at Duke University, he was the chairman and founder of the Mayor’s University Advisory Council for the mayor of Durham, N.C. He was chairman of the Duke University Honor Council and served as the editor-in-chief for an academic journal. He graduated Summa Cum Laude and was named to the USA Today All-USA academic first team.

He was a participant in the 1991 session of Missouri Boys State and was selected to represent Missouri at Boys Nation in Washington D.C. He graduated from Parkway North High School in St. Louis in 1992.

The American Legion Boys State of Missouri will be held on the campus of Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, MO beginning on Saturday, June 17 and concluding on June 24, 2006. The participants must have completed their junior year in high school and must have distinguished themselves as leaders in their high school and community.