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June 15, 2001/Sivan 24, 5761, Vol. 53, No.37
Mission uses Holocaust to fight prejudice, educate
BETH OLSON
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 Arizona delegates to the Anti-Defamation League's National Youth Leadership Mission toured Washington, D.C. Here they are pictured in front of the White House. From left, back row, Delane Long, Benjamin Ali, Radouane Betayeb and David Breeze. Front row, Jenny Leung, Jana Erwin, Sergio De Araujo and Rachel Koch. Photo courtesy of Paul Wieser |
Some 125 high school juniors of diverse backgrounds participated, including 10 students from Arizona. The event focused on "using the Holocaust as the main theme - as an example of what happens when prejudice goes unchecked," says Paul Wieser, associate regional director of ADL.
Valley participants were Benjamin Ali and Yovhane Campos, Greenway High School; Radouane Betayeb and Jenny Leung, Coronado High School; David Breeze and Jana Erwin, Gilbert High School; Rachel Koch, Paradise Valley High School; and Sergio De Araujo, Shadow Mountain High School. Two students from Tucson's Aztec Middle College, Portia Leeks and Delane Long, also participated. Wieser and Debra Rich from ADL chaperoned the group.
In addition to visiting the museum, the delegation participated in workshops addressing bigotry and intolerance, visited Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress, and listened to a presentation by Carl Ofisher of Phoenix, a Holocaust survivor who traveled with the Arizona delegation to Washington.
"The whole experience was so great," says Leung. "I enjoyed every single part, but the part that is always going to stick in my mind is the Holocaust Museum."
Leung says the fact that the Phoenix delegation traveled and toured the museum with Ofisher made the trip even more meaningful for her group.
"Nobody can give you that kind of insight except for a Holocaust survivor," she explains. "We got that experience and it's something that (we'll) never really get another chance to do."
Erwin took Ofisher's experience to heart, as well. "It was upsetting. I look at Carl and he's just the sweetest little man that ever was and I'm thinking, 'How could anybody treat him like this? How could anyone treat anybody like that?' " she recalls. "It made (the Holocaust) much more real."
Betayeb says that what struck him most was that the museum was built to scale.
"You feel like you were there because the corridors were so compact. When a whole crowd walked in, you felt (like) the Jewish people in concentration camps," he says.
The National Youth Leadership Mission began in the ADL's Greater Chicago/Upper Midwest Regional office in 1996. The program became a national endeavor in 1998, when six cities participated. This year the number of cities participating in the program grew to 12: Chicago, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orange County, Palm Beach, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Diego.
Wieser explains that participating cities are selected by an application process. Wieser, who is new to this position, points out that this was the first year the Arizona region applied.
Once the Arizona region was selected to go, the education committee of the ADL selected which schools could send delegates. Wieser says that some schools were chosen because they already hold ADL anti-bias training programs and others were selected so they could have the opportunity to learn more about the services of ADL.
The ADL's only requirement to join in the trip was that each school select a boy and a girl, that they be juniors in high school and that they be leaders "who can use this training and come back next year and share this with their peers," says Wieser.
Leung and Betayeb have already met with the administration at Coronado to discuss the incorporation of what they learned into the school environment there. Leung says they are looking into doing some unity fairs and leadership seminars.
Erwin, who is Mormon, says she holds a leadership role in her church, and she will use her experience in Washington to take on a new role at school, including participation in Anytown, a leadership camp in Prescott, and introducing speakers, including Ofisher, who will come to visit Gilbert High School next year.
Leung, Erwin and Betayab all say they made meaningful friendships in the short time they were together.
"Our delegation became so close knit," says Erwin. "We only spent three days together, but all of a sudden they were my closest, best and only friends."
Betayab concurs, "We bonded very quickly."
Wieser feels that the trip was a life-changing experience for the students.
"I think they were overwhelmed. I don't think they actually knew what they were going to experience, where they examined not only their own biases - prejudices they might have - but how to respond to that and how to counteract those kinds of behaviors when they encounter them," he says. "I think they were better people for what they had experienced."