Ten high school juniors from Colorado were selected to be The Gerald M. Quiat Delegates to ADL’s 19th Annual Grosfeld Family National Youth Leadership Mission to Washington, D.C. The students embarked on a journey with ADL to apply lessons learned from the Holocaust to their own lives and lead the fight against bigotry and hate in their respective communities. These ten student delegates joined over 100 other diverse students from around the country. The Colorado students who attended this year’s Mission and are pictured in the photo above are:
L-R: Ezra Kone, Boulder High School; Caroline Spence, Rampart High School; Jennifer Carrillo, Adams City High School; Sydney Pfefer, Grandview High School; Ethan Walters, Mullen High School; Alyssa Chavez, Grandview High School; Kiara Leslie, Gateway High School; Lyric Anderson, Vista Peak Preparatory; Alexia Hanneman, Rampart High School; and Garrett Cunfer, Rampart High School.
The students were selected for their extraordinary leadership qualities and demonstration of interest in issues of diversity. They came from Adams City High School, Boulder High School, Gateway High School, Grandview High School, Mullen High School, Rampart High School and Vista Peak Preparatory.
“It is critically important to be able to equip young people with the ability to not only understand issues of bias, bigotry and racism, especially given the past year’s troubling events across the country, but to equip them to be able to directly respond,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “The goal of the youth leadership mission is as relevant as ever. Today, and over the years, students have become so incredibly inspired to effect change in their own schools and neighborhoods upon returning from the trip. The mission really gets them thinking about combatting hate in a really positive way.”
The centerpiece of the mission was the significant amount of time students spent at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where they learned about the persecution of Jews and other minorities during World War II, and examined contemporary issues of extremism, bigotry and genocide. The students also engaged in in-depth discussions about lessons that can be applicable in their individual lives and how they can play a part in fighting prejudice. They heard from these notable speakers:
- Nesse Godin, a survivor of a Lithuanian ghetto, the Stuffhof concentration camp, four labor camps, and a death march.
- Eugenie Mukeshimana, a Rwandan Genocide survivor
- Michael Lieberman, Director, Civil Rights Policy Planning Center, ADL
Upon their return, the Gerald M. Quiat Delegates shared their personal reflections about their experience before a crowd of friends, family, ADL Board members and staff. They created poems, spoken word flows, paintings, drawings, conducted in-depth interviews, created videos and researched brain science to share their personal journeys.
Because of the generosity of The Quiat Family, this powerful program continues to be a life-changing experience for many students in the Mountain States Region. It provides a personal experience to not only examine history, but also a chance for Colorado student leaders to connect with others students from around country that are committed to leading their peers and communities in imagining and creating a world without hate.
Please read two excerpts from their reflections:
“Naturally, as the human race, we are bound to judge others, but in reality that isn’t okay…Everyone should feel safe and accepted for who they are and not for who they are perceived as.”
– Jennifer Carrillo, Adams City High School
“I believe all elements of hate come down to denial…
Bias, is the denial of recognition, the denial of identity of someone’s right to free thought. Bias is denying to recognize differences.
Prejudice, is the denial of wellbeing…
Discrimination is denial of a group’s rights…
Violence is the denial of peace…
Genocide is denial of lives, of identities, of cultures…
Look around, see the differences, accept them, and refuse to deny.
Accept.”
– From “Denial” by Ezra Kone, Boulder High School