Plano teen helps organize African conference</p>
<p>12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, March 23, 2008</p>
<p>By DAN X. McGRAW / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News</p>
<p>Tracy Huang has never set foot in Africa.</p>
<p>But as a college freshman, the 18-year-old Plano resident is trying to bring democracy ideals to the continent.</p>
<p>With three other Amherst College students, Ms. Huang started the organization Dream for Democracy, aimed at fostering conversation about government and democracy in South Africa through a weeklong conference.</p>
<p>“There needs to be more attention on what is outside of your own borders,” she said. “If you don’t go out there, you are never going to see what’s there.”</p>
<p>Through the conference, South African residents will get a chance to hear from guest speakers, such as John Samuels, the chief executive officer of Oprah Winfrey’s school near Johannesburg.</p>
<p>The plan for the conference, which is scheduled for January 2009, was hatched in August when Ms. Huang, Sebabatso Manoeli, Zandile Bekwa and Jamie Cohen began talking about creating the organization.</p>
<p>Last year, Ms. Manoeli held a conference in South Africa where 40 students participated in a weekend-long debate competition at St. Dominic’s College. The students’ plan is to expand that to a weeklong event and host it at additional sites, including Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Botswana, according to the group’s Web site.</p>
<p>Ms. Huang has seemed more like a chief financial officer than a college freshman.</p>
<p>Her studies have been combined with balancing the organization’s budget, writing proposals for funding and working to keep everything on schedule for the conference.</p>
<p>However, over the first six months, the organization has slowly begun to take shape. Amherst College and Davis Projects for Peace both gave funding for the conference.</p>
<p>At times, Ms. Huang said, it was overwhelming.</p>
<p>“I actually had to slow down,” she said. “College is supposed to be best four years of my life. I am trying to take advantage of those things.”</p>
<p>While working with the organization, Ms. Huang, who is majoring in both economics and political science, is also doing community service and learning karate.</p>
<p>But it’s her nature to be so driven, Jenny Huang, her mother said.</p>
<p>In high school, she served as the chief defense attorney for Collin County Teen Court. She also mentored in the Circle of Success homework program and taught English in China.</p>
<p>So when she set her eyes on South Africa, it didn’t come as a surprise to her parents.</p>
<p>“She always has big ideas,” Jenny Huang said.</p>
<p>Now, her big ideas include South Africa.