Pictured: Last year’s NYLM delegates
A diverse group of students from throughout the Los Angeles area will embark on a significant experience to apply lessons learned from the Holocaust to their own lives and lead the fight against bigotry and hate in their respective communities at the Anti-Defamation League’s Grosfeld Family National Youth Leadership Mission.
The mission, which will take place from Sunday, October 26 to Wednesday, October 29, will involve ten LA-area students among the 110 students from across the country including Albany, New York City, New England, Florida, Washington D.C., Chicago, New Orleans, Denver, Santa Barbara, and San Diego. The high school students were selected for their extraordinary leadership qualities and demonstration of interest in issues of diversity.
According to Dave Reynolds, Project Director in the LA office, “After a highly competitive application and interview process, ADL staff and lay leaders determined the ten delegates who will represent the Pacific Southwest Region this year.”
The delegates reflect the diversity of Los Angeles. There are two delegates each from: St. Genevieve’s Catholic High School in Panorama City; New Roads School in Santa Monica, and the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). There is one Delegate each from: Hamilton High School, James Foshay Learning Center, Ambassador School of Global Leadership (all LAUSD) and Warren High School (Downey Unified School District).
The centerpiece of the mission will focus on a significant amount of time at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where students will learn about the persecution and atrocities of the Second World War, and examine contemporary issues of extremism, bigotry and genocide. The students will also engage in in-depth discussions about lessons that can be applicable in their individual lives and how they can play a part in fighting prejudice.
During breakout sessions conducted by ADL’s A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute facilitators, students will also share their personal experiences with bullying, hatred and discrimination, and discuss how the lessons of the Holocaust can be applied today.
Other notable presenters will include:
- Dr. Leon Bass, a U.S. Army soldier during World War II who was detailed to Buchenwald Concentration Camp to assist in relief, and was among the first American soldiers to be seen by survivors of the camp.
- Nesse Godin, a survivor of a Lithuanian ghetto, the Stuffhof concentration camp, four labor camps, and a death march.
- Jacqueline Murekatete, a survivor of the Rwandan Genocide and an internationally recognized genocide prevention and human rights activist.
- Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor, will share his personal story of being saved from the Nazis by his Polish Catholic nanny.
The students will also attend ADL’s 20th annual “In Concert Against Hate” on October 27 at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., where heroes in the fight against hate and intolerance will be honored. The student delegates will also hear from the heroes that stood up against or were the victims of hate crimes.
Founded in 1996 by ADL’s Greater Chicago/Upper Midwest Regional Office, the Youth Leadership Mission became a national program in 1998, building on the success of previous programs in preparing students as role models against bigotry, prejudice and hate. It is generously sponsored by The Grosfeld Family Foundation.
Following the Mission, Delegates will return to work on service projects to better their schools and communities in greater Los Angeles.