Members of the Rotary Club St. Croix West got a report on Tuesday from two students the club sponsored for the 2013 “World Affairs Youth Seminar” at Auburn University.
The second week in July, Jahleel Prentice, a senior at St. Croix Educational Complex, and Ashanti Edwards, a junior at St. Croix Central High School, set out for the seminar on international affairs in Auburn, Ala.
Wilhelmina Cooke, treasurer and advisor for the Central Interact Club, encouraged Edwards to make the trip to the seminar. The Rotary West Club paid all the expenses for the students’ five-day trip.
“I wasn’t really into the politics part of the seminar,” Edwards said. “But when I got there I enjoyed meeting people from all over and them telling me what’s really happening in their part of the world.”
The seminar is put on by the education department at Auburn University. Edwards said the students were to focus on the current events in Syria and the shortage of water worldwide. During the seminar the students, called delegates, joined together to research and come up with resolutions for peace. The afternoons were spent in mock sessions conducting business modeled after the United Nations and putting forward their resolutions.
Edwards said the seminar’s focus on clean water was something of importance of which everyone needs to be aware. Living on an island, she knows the importance of water conservation. She said she would be spreading the word about how precious water is. She was impressed with a salt solution set in the sun that turns to chlorine.
Prentice felt the same about how clean water is a major issue for a lot of people.
“There are countries that don’t even have water,” Prentice said. “And some just have dirty water.”
He said he just can’t believe how some people don’t have access to clean water. Prentice said he will share everything about the seminar with his friends, family and the Interact Club at Complex.
He said he also enjoyed meeting people from other countries at the seminar.
“I love the people I met there,” Prentice said. He jokingly told the Rotarians he learned a lesson about missing flights too.
Edwards said, “Going to the seminar was a tremendous opportunity for me.” She said it gave her the chance to see what college life is like, adding it will also look good on applications for college. “And it gives me the chance to share with others what I have learned.”
Also at the meeting, Joe Newton, a Teacher Ranger Exchange from North Carolina at the National Park Service, gave a presentation on the benefits of student and teacher exchanges between North Carolina and St. Croix.
