As part of the summer academic program, M.P.P. students participate in a Leadership and Policy Skills seminar designed to help students think about skills needed for public service leadership and policymaking at the most senior levels. Through readings, discussions, case studies, simulations, and self-assessment exercises, the seminar will explore various aspects of leadership and policymaking. The seminar aims to introduce mid-career students to the academic approaches they will encounter in WWS courses during the academic year, while also helping them get to know their peers and refine their learning objectives for the year. As a follow-up to this seminar, during the academic year this talented group of mid-career students is given the opportunity to think analytically and conceptually about what they have been doing in their professional lives and to present and discuss their ideas in an M.P.P. Forum of their Woodrow Wilson School peers. M.P.P. students also are encouraged to participate in the wide range of professional development opportunities offered by the WWS Office of Graduate Career Services. In the past, training has been given on communication and media skills, management techniques, consulting for nonprofits, as well as the more abstract challenges of ethical and inspirational leadership in public service.