Students Attend The Hague

Students+Attend+The+Hague

Nataliya Grygorash, Reporter

Students from both East and West Leyden, naming themselves The Hague Brigade, were able to meet nationally recognized figures in the fight for human rights. Jake Schwartz and Marilyn Fuentes had a chance to travel to Netherlands and Italy to learn more about other cultures and people’s rights.

At the Hague, the U.N.’s International Court of Justice in the Netherlands, they attended a human rights conference, where they learned more about human rights and got the passion to bring the information that they learned with them back to Leyden. Schwartz said, “We looked at common human rights abuses that people go through everyday. Members of the human rights conference had to think of a way to make/design a product that will help improve people’s lives, so people at the conference can get used to design thinking process to attack problems and create solutions for people that are in need.”

Hague Brigade members got to attend the workshops that talked about refugees. Attendees had a chance to listen to powerful speeches from human rights activists, like Mandla Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, and Doctor Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson.

In Italy, they learned about the culture of the people that live and lived there. One activity involved learning about the gladiator experience. “[Through the gladiator experience, we learned that gladiators were slaves for people’s entertainment. The group also visited a lot of historical sights: the Trevi Fountain, Saint Peter’s Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel. They even had the chance of going to Vatican City, which is the headquarters of Roman Catholic Church, and it is also home to the Pope and a trove of iconic art and architecture.

If there is anyone interested in joining Hague Brigade, please email Alyssa Guillu, she is the president of the unofficial club, or Marilyn Fuentes. Mrs. Johanna Heppeler can also be emailed if you have questions. And it is OK if you don’t know about human rights, because that is the exact point of the club. It is made to educated people who aren’t familiar with human rights.