The South East Asian Youth Leadership Program will encourage visiting students to become leaders at a Government and Leadership event today at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St.

Sixty high school-age students from South East Asian countries — brought to NIU with a grant from the Department of State — will participate. The program was created to empower the students to become leaders.

Today’s event was created around the idea of giving its participants a ground-level understanding of the American system of Democratic government.

DeKalb Mayor John Rey, who will speak at the event, said he met with a few participants Sunday and they had a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and he looks forward to meeting with the participants again.

“Hopefully they will take an example from this country and take them back to their own country as they grow into responsibility in their own countries,” Rey said.

The event will feature guest speakers from the three branches of government and all levels of government from local to federal. Jeffery Metzger, DeKalb County Board chairman, is scheduled to present. Speakers have been asked to talk about how their offices interact with other levels of government — local, county, state and federal — in a cooperative spirit.

This is the first year the program has been run since its pilot ended after a 2009 to 2012 test run. Program assistant Michael MacDonald said previous South East Asian Youth Leadership Program events have been different from today’s but shared themes.

“There is usually an event that touches on local government … but, for instance, [in previous years] they will hold diplomatic talks that follow UN talk guidelines, and the overall scope and goal of the program is consistent,” MacDonald said.

The program will not be open to the public due to the limited size of the venue, MacDonald said.