FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin todayrecognized the opening of a new Business and Finance Academy at Washington, D.C.’sWoodrow Wilson Senior High School and announced the Treasury Department’sestablishment of a formal partnership with the school. Treasury will detail governmentofficials to assist with the management of Wilson’s Business and Finance Academy,develop academic curriculum based on school-to-work strategies and strengthen existinginternship programs.

"Today marks the beginning of anevenstronger and more productive relationship between the Treasury Department and Wilson HighSchool," said Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin. "Programs like the Businessand Finance Academy that bring together private and public sector sponsors will benefitstudents, area businesses and the community as a whole. I’ve had the chance to hearfrom a number of the 200 students who have participated in our internship program. I thinkit has made a difference and I look forward to building on this effort."

Since 1995, Treasury has donated more thanforty computers to Wilson High School and replaced the school’s dated technology byoffering the families of sophomore students the use of computers that have not beenupgraded but are still usable.

The Treasury Partnership in Educationinternship program began in 1995 with 20 students from City Lights High School and theprogram was then extended to include Eastern and Wilson High Schools. Last summer, thedepartment and its Bureaus employed 135 students from Anacostia, Eastern and Wilson HighSchool as interns. Since 1995, approximately 200 D.C. high school students have completedTreasury’s internship program.

Treasury’s student interns work inBureaus and offices throughout the agency ranging from the Office of the Secretary to theoffice of Treasury’s Under Secretary for Enforcement. Currently, District high schoolteachers are working with Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and

Printing in order to develop a range ofinternships that give students a broader view of the department’s mission as itrelates to domestic and international currency. A similar exchange of ideas and experienceis underway between teachers at the Law, Justice and Security Academy at Anacostia SeniorHigh and Treasury’s law enforcement officials and the Department of Defense.

Secretary Rubin, Wilson’s PrincipalDr.Wilma Bonner and D.C. School Administrator General Julius Becton met today withapproximately 115 students from the Business and Finance Academy in the school’slibrary for the formal presentation.