Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
British Students Discuss Day With Colin Powell
Aired July 12, 2002 - 10:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Colin Powell faces a lot of international policy changes as secretary of state and he meets with leaders all over the world. But there's another issue that remains important to Mr. Powell: mentoring young people. You might recall he founded a group called America's Promise to Help At-risk Youth. Through that organization and others, two foster children from Britain were chosen out of 5,000 youngsters to come to America and spend time with the secretary of state.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Good morning. How are you?
KAGAN (voice-over): Secretary of State Colin Powell hosted two VIPs at the State Department on Thursday, British exchange students Tom Minor and Mei Lai Lu.
POWELL: Today is no concerts, no baseball, no basketball. It's a serious day, and I hope you enjoy it.
KAGAN: On a day when Mr. Powell met with two foreign ministers and testified before Congress with three Cabinet secretaries, his guests were the real stars.
POWELL: I have two young British, a young lady and a young gentleman who are from Surrey, England. I'd like to ask them to stand and be recognized. They were at a Britney Spears concert last night. They have been to a basketball game, and this is their day with the State Department to see what a secretary of state does, and I think they're having a pretty good time here in the United States.
REP. RICHARD ARMEY, (R-TX), MAJORITY LEADER: Mr. Secretary, we look forward to showing you that there can be something better than Britney Spears.
KAGAN: After a ride in the secretary's motorcade and a private tour of the State Department, Tom and Milai had some private time with their host.
POWELL: So, you like your day?
MEI LAI LU, STUDENT: Yes.
TOM MINOR, STUDENT: Amazing. POWELL: What was the coolest part?
LU: Being in car with you.
POWELL: Being in the car with me was the best part of the day? We had a nice conversation.
KAGAN: They also learned an important lesson from a powerful role model.
POWELL: We've come so far in this country that it's time now to do everything you can and not worry about what color you are or what background you are. And you must never use any problem you had. I mean both of you have overcome a great deal. It's behind you. It's historic and now you can never use that as an excuse for anything.
Hello, Ms. Waller (ph)? Yes, Colin Powell, how are you? It's just very fine here, and Tom is here and he wants to say a word to you. And he's on television, as he's doing all this.
MINOR: Hello. Do you believe him? No? You don't seem shocked at all. You were just speaking to the secretary of state for the United States of America.
KAGAN: With the group photo and some parting gifts, the secretary said goodbye to his new friends.
LU: I'll give you my address, and come and stay with me, won't you?
POWELL: I will.
LU: But you have to let me know so I can I can get out the red carpet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: And we should note that two American students also traveled to Britain this week. They're part of the exchange program, and they're with British Foreign Minister Jack Straw.
The two British students you just saw in that story are still stateside, and we have a chance to visit with them.
Mei Lai Lu and Tim Minor join us from New York to talk more about their experience. Good morning.
MINOR: Hi, there.
LU: Good morning.
KAGAN: It's fascinating to get to see your day and to get to spy on you for a little bit.
First, I have to know, which was better, the Britney Spears concert or that congressional hearing that you sat in yesterday? LU: The hearing, definitely.
KAGAN: Really? Well, that's good to know, very encouraging.
Mei Lai, I do want to start with you. You have grown up in what we know as the foster care system. That's what we call it here in the U.S., and you have risen above what's been a difficult childhood, and you actually are in charge of a newspaper for other foster kids?
LU: Yes. Well, I got involved about a year ago, and the we feel the best way to help children with their problems is to actually use other kids that have been in the system and can use their experience to tell other people. So what I do is I help other kids to stay focused and we come up with ideas of stuff to go in the magazine, and I help with the editing, and we do all sorts of stuff really like problem pages, agonionce stuff (ph), reviews, and we look at issues, but we also use our points of views to help the other children that are in care.
KAGAN: Good for you, and Tim, you're a student leader and also an Olympic hopeful, as I understand it.
MINOR: Well, maybe that's a bit...
KAGAN: Generous?
MINOR: ...too far in the future, but I'm hoping I'll get there some day.
KAGAN: Tell us about your sport?
MINOR: Well, I'm a trampolinist, and before I came to America on Friday, I was doing the national finals in the U.K., and that's from all the children from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, and England, and we had a big competition, and there was about 40, 50 people and I came 24th, so for my first one, that's not too bad I think.
KAGAN: It sounds pretty excellent to me. Also what sounds excellent is the day that you guys had yesterday. So many people across America would love to spend the day with Colin Powell. What's it been like? What's your impression of him? What's he like?
MINOR: It was such an honor to meet him. He's such a down-to- earth guy, and as you can see, we were looking quite comfortable there. I mean he really made us feel happy to just be with him and he didn't want to probe us about too many complicated issues. He just wanted to find out what we thought about the states and how we were enjoying our visit. It was really good fun.
KAGAN: And what did you tell him on that, Mei Lai?
LU: Well, in fact we were really nervous because he is such an important person, but when we met him, he just made us feel so welcome. He just seemed so normal and was just so friendly, and he had a good sense of humor, and he just put us at ease and, you know, we could joke about with him and go to him and ask him questions. KAGAN: You were joking with the secretary of state?
LU: Well, yes. Well he phoned my foster mum, and she thought he was winding her up and while he was sitting there, I said to my foster mum, Oh, he's sitting right next to me. I'm patting his back now, but don't worry, I'm not scratching it. And then I had to write something down, my foster mum was asking me to get a pen and paper, and Colin lent him his pen, and got a piece of paper. And I said, on the phone and he heard, could you hurry up because my secretary's waiting for me, so he could write it down. He's not the secretary of the state. He's Mei Lai's secretary, and he laughed, but that was quite nice to see him joking about with us as well.
KAGAN: Great, now you guys, of course, beat out 5,000 other young people to get this opportunity. I need to know what -- I'm very interested to know what is next in your future. What are your plans?
MINOR: Well, this trip has really kind of opened our eyes to so many different arenas, like in politics and social work, and various different areas that we never really thought about before, but we know there's a real need for social workers. We know that you know there are a lot of places we can go in politics without necessarily doing political science and stuff like that. So, I'm really grateful to RPS Rayner (ph) for sending us here. They're the non-profit organization, the equivalent of America's Promise in the U.K., and they support me and Mei Lai through out educations, and they sent us here. So, I'm grateful for that.
KAGAN: That's great. Mei Lai what are you future plans?
LU: Well, I'm hoping to be a teacher and so that I can use my experiences in school to help them. But from this trip, I want to help other people, you know, like possibly work for RPS Rayner (ph), if you are listening, or be a social worker, just give more to the community really and foster in, and maybe look into politics a bit more. We have been invited to -- well, we've been told by someone that we should come and apply for a scholarship, so that's quite tempting as well.
KAGAN: Well, I have the feeling this is not the last we've heard of either one of you.
MINOR: Thanks a lot.
KAGAN: I think we'll be hearing a lot more in the future. Tom Minor, Mei Lai Lu, welcome to our country. Welcome to the U.S.
LU: OK, thank you.
MINOR: Thanks.
KAGAN: And enjoy the rest of your visit, and thanks for sharing your experience with our secretary of state.
MINOR: Bye, Daryn.
LU: Thank you, goodbye. See you.
KAGAN: Great to have you with us.
LU: Bye.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
