For the 17th year, ADL’s Pacific Southwest Region sent a delegation of ten high school juniors from across the Los Angeles area to gain valuable knowledge and leadership skills at the Grosfeld Family National Youth Leadership Mission in Washington D.C from November 14-18. Representing the racial, ethnic, religious and cultural diversity of Los Angeles, the delegates brought their unique and valuable perspectives to the Mission to share with each other and the other delegations from ADL offices across the United States. The 2015 Mission was the largest in ADL’s history.
The Mission centers around an in-depth visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. While there, the delegates explored modern and historic examples of bigotry and genocide and shared personal experiences with bias, prejudice, discrimination and hatred. The program then taught the delegates leadership skills so they could come back to their schools and communities with resources to combat bias, prejudice and the resulting negative actions.
At the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, students learned about the atrocities of the Second World War and examined contemporary issues of extremism, bigotry and genocide. The delegates explored a newer exhibit at the museum, Some Were Neighbors, which addresses the choices everyday people made to be either allies of targets of the Nazis, collaborators with the Nazi regime, or stand by while others were victimized. The delegates also heard firsthand stories from multiple Holocaust survivors and civil rights leaders.
Before ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt spoke to the Mission for his first time, he was welcomed and introduced by Los Angeles Delegate Chelsea Hylton.
While in Washington D.C., the delegates also attended the ADL Concert Against Hate at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, featuring the music of the National Symphony Orchestra and other talented groups. They also participated in a full tour of all the monuments on the National Mall and a trip to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian.
During breakout sessions conducted by ADL’s A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute facilitators, students shared personal experiences with bullying, bias, hatred and discrimination, and discussed how the lessons of the Holocaust can be applied today and to their own lives. Delegates from across the U.S. will now share their Mission experience with their school communities through presentations and essays, or by initiating clubs to raise awareness about bias and discrimination. In Los Angeles, delegates have chosen to share their stories through a testimonial project. In the coming months, delegates will write and record their stories to help educate others on what they have seen and how they think we can achieve a world without hate.
Regional lay leaders Gayle Miller, Melissa Zukerman and Ben Goldfarb joined staff member Dave Reynolds and ADL facilitator Pam Cysner to accompany the delegates to our nation’s capital. Applications for the fall 2016 mission will become available in spring 2016 for students who will be in 11th grade during the 2016-17 school year. To receive an application, email Oriane Nagel at onagel@adl.org. An application will be emailed to you when they are available.