[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 131 (Tuesday, November 16, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1985-E1986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           IN MEMORY AND TRIBUTE TO THE LATE WILLIAM M. BURKE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JOE BACA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 16, 2004

  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in memory and tribute to the late 
William M. Burke, who passed away recently after a brief illness. Mr. 
Burke was Founder and President of the Washington Center for 
Internships and Academic Seminars, established in 1975 as a nonprofit, 
nonpartisan, nonsectarian educational organization that allows college 
students from all around the country and the world to have access to 
academic internships in Washington, D.C.
  To those who knew him on and off the Hill, Mr. Burke was an 
indefatigable leader, brimming with vision and ideals--a mentor, a 
teacher, a friend, and, most importantly, the source of inspiration to 
countless young leaders. The institution that he built and nurtured has 
earned a lasting and enduring place in experiential education. Under 
Bill Burke's leadership, the Washington Center educated thousands of 
young people from the United States and abroad, and achieved great 
respect in the academic, business, nonprofit, and legislative 
communities in its 30 years of existence.
  Bill Burke shaped the Washington Center into an institution to 
mentor, nurture, and develop leaders in politics, the nonprofit sector, 
media, business, and other fields. It was Bill's desire that our young 
people learn those values that are important in our future leaders: 
self-respect, selflessness, dedication, ethics, courage, teamwork, and 
the highest standards of work.
  He believed that it is important for young people to discover that 
they are already leaders, and that they inherently possess qualities 
that they can take back to their communities and college campuses, 
whether they are from a village in Mexico, a small town in our 
heartland, or a big city. He saw that the world was full of possibility 
and promise, opportunity and optimism, and that we can change it, one 
person, and one neighborhood, at a time.
  Mr. Burke passionately believed that an interchange between our young 
people is essential in furthering understanding, here and abroad, and 
in giving people the tools to develop their communities, block by 
block. He said that it was important for a kid from Kansas to meet a 
student from Kenya, and a student from Mexico to meet peers from Canada 
and California, and see that our differences are not that vast, and it 
is our great commonality of purpose that unites us. He grasped the 
importance of experiential education in international development, and 
at the time of his death, the Center was well on its way to 
establishing programs where students go back to their communities with 
the skills and contacts to better people's lives.
  Mr. Burke was a master presenter and motivator. He used to look at a 
sea of young people, and proclaim that they should get to know the 
person sitting on their right and the person on their left, because, 
Washington is a small town, brimming with former interns, and you can 
never tell for whom you will be working, and who will make a difference 
in the world! He had an encyclopedic knowledge of all of the 
personalities of Washington, and he could inspire students with his 
vast knowledge of who, at one time, had served an internship. He was 
known to name some important leader, and finish the comment with: ``And 
they were an intern!''
  Mr. Burke tirelessly championed the involvement of members of 
Congress and the executive branch, corporate CEOs, foreign dignitaries, 
media luminaries, leaders in philanthropy, nonprofit leaders, state 
legislators, and college and university presidents, and the Center's 
33,000 alumni in various aspects of the Washington Center.
  Bill Burke's innovation and singular belief in the importance of 
providing college students equal access to the Washington Center led to 
the development of such programs as Women as Leaders, Minority Leaders 
Fellowship Program, Diversity in Congress Program, NAFTA Internship 
Program, Internship Initiative for Students with Disabilities, Native 
American Program, Americas Program and the Washington Center's growing 
international programs. In addition, in order to assure accessibility 
of programs regardless of the students' economic background, Bill Burke 
perseveringly sought philanthropic partnerships for scholarship support 
for the students who participate in these programs.
  A native of Norwood, Massachusetts, Mr. Burke earned a Master's in 
Education from the University of Massachusetts, his Bachelor of Science 
in Management from American International College in Springfield, 
Massachusetts, and an Associate's degree in Accounting from Norwalk 
Community College, Norwalk, Connecticut. He also received an honorary 
Doctorate of Law from Richard Stockton State College. He once remarked 
that he loved every job he had ever held.
  Mr. Burke is survived by his wife, Sheila McRevey Burke, and two 
children, Barry and Reavey. We offer our condolences to Sheila, Barry, 
and Reavey, and to his colleagues, friends, and the thousands of former 
students who were touched by this good man's life and example. And so, 
Mr. Speaker, we say: in the loving memory of Bill Burke, we salute him. 
May the Lord bless and keep him close, and may his family and numerous 
friends find comfort in the knowledge that his legacy and life's work 
go on.

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