Newts Action Team Creates Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Training for Youth Symposium

 This Monday morning, the lobby of the Clinton House was a minefield.  By day’s end, it was an international courtroom.

Throughout the day, American Red Cross reps and New Roots student trainers worked side-by-side to prepare the New Roots team to compete in the 2nd annual International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Youth Symposium in Washington, D.C. scheduled for July 2014.

Last June, New Roots students prepared an interactive skit about prisoners of war that won them the opportunity to be one of the first Action Teams in the nation, one of only six to win a trip to Washington D.C. for the first National IHL Youth Symposium.  Their skit was later adopted by the American Red Cross as a learning tool for its International Training Handbook.   

 This Fall, Jessica Lane, Regional Youth Services Manager, contacted me with a letter of support for our charter renewal.  In her letter, Ms. Lane reflects on the contributions and impressions our students made to last year’s symposium, saying, “I wanted to let you know what a great contribution New Roots Charter School students have made to the IHL Action Campaign program. . . .  The students we worked with were thoughtful, mature, conscientious, and creative. . .  their Action Campaign has been integrated into the national IHL Action Campaign program.  A portion of their Action Campaign, concerning the rights of prisoners of war, will be used to teach students throughout the nation.  Congratulations!”

This year, New Roots Spanish students are working with International Humanitarian Law Chapter Liaison Jonathon Cummings, a junior at Ithaca College, to develop bilingual action campaigns about child soldiers and international justice for this year's competition.  Under the tutelage of New Roots Spanish teacher Maria Gimma, students Hali VanValkenburg, Soren Mortensen, Rosemary Gloss and Alex Bontzalakes attended a weekend-long training in the fall of 2013.  These students were leaders in Monday’s training, replicating what they learned in a “training of trainers” session.  And they sure seemed to be having a lot of fun doing it!  

Once again I am deeply impressed but not surprised by the tremendous capacity that New Roots students have for teamwork, creativity, problem-solving, and leadership, among other essential “real world” skills.  Lead on, Newts!