We met three student refugees: Rooha (Iran), Mohammad (Malaysia), and Anwesh (Nepal), who have resettled in the Dallas area and are attending Conrad High School. These students, living in Dallas for 2-5 years, come from a diverse group nations: Iran, Malaysia and Nepal. The event's goal was to provide a platform for the students to share background on the conflict in their home countries, their stories of struggle and perseverance, and the resettlement process.
In addition to the student testimonies, the discussion included perspectives of local community leaders. They identified gaps in the services provided to the refugee community and address the needs of new arrivals. Panelists included:
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We thank the student speakers for being brave enough to share their stories with us and for inspiring us!
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Luncheon with Peter Szijjartó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Hungary: February 15, 2016 |
NSHS sophomores and juniors, along with Ms. Hardy and Mr. Isaly, took a field trip to the Crescent Club in Downtown Dallas to hear His Excellency, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó speak to the World Affairs Council at a particularly critical time in Europe.
He lately has been in the forefront of European discussions about the refugee crisis and Middle East peace negotiations. These topics and other issues will be the focus of his Council program. Minister Szijjártó's most recent public statement declared that Hungary may have to "turn to Bulgaria and Macedonia for assistance" if Greece does not shut off the flow of refugees across its own borders. He also said of Hungary, "We are ready, we have made the necessary preparatory works already on the Romanian-Hungarian border, if we have to build a fence there we are ready from the next day." The Minister is a veteran of Hungarian public service. He has held his current office since September 2014. In 2013 he was Government Commissioner for Hungarian-Russian Relations and Hungarian Chinese Bilateral Relations. From June 2010 to June 2012, he was the Prime Minister's spokesman and directed the PM's staff in charge of press, international and organizational affairs. |
The Forum was honored to host the guest speakers: Elizabeth Hagberg, Hassan Bisilongo, and Christopher Cambeses. We thank them for enlightening our students about refugees/asylum seekers during this global migration phenomenon.
A big thanks to Amy Miller from the World Affairs Council of DFW for making these speaker events possible! |
Christian Cotz, the Montpelier Fondation
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Princeton alum. Married a knockout. Championed religious freedom. Mastered backroom politics – they called him “Jemmy the Knife.” Wrote the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights in his thirties. Is this The Most Interesting Man in the World? Apparently not. Most Americans can’t place James Madison in a line-up of Founding Fathers. But Madison served as a House Rep, as Secretary of State, and as a 2-term President who led us into, and out of, the War of 1812. Most importantly though, James Madison was the man most responsible for our system of government. To help us understand how and why James Madison earned the title, Father of the Constitution, we spoke with Christian Cotz.
Christian Cotz has worked at James Madison’s Montpelier, the 2700 acre, cradle-to-grave home of the President, for nearly 16 years. Earlier in his career he developed and ran student field trips at Montpelier; today he serves as Director of Education and Visitor Engagement. That means he has to make sure that every visitor that comes on site has a fantastic experience – from the exhibit panels they read, to what they hear on the tours they take. Cotz earned a BA in History and an MA in Teaching from … where else?… James Madison University. He explained that if he were still alive, Madison would be proud of the democratic values still held in the US and of our increasingly inclusive society. |
Dr. Nielsen-Gammon, Texas A&M University
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The planet's climate is changing at a rate that has surpassed most scientific predictions. Some communities have already started to suffer from the negative effects of climate change, forced to flee their homes in search of a new beginning. Many regions of the world are seeing a depletion of natural resources such as clean water and are unable to maintain their agricultural and livestock industries. Other areas are experiencing rising sea levels at an increasingly dangerous rate, such as the Marshall Islands. More every year are feeling the increased risk of dangerous weather to an undesirable level. To understand these trends and forecast the Earth's reaction to climate change, we spoke with Dr. Nielsen-Gammon from Texas A&M University.
John Nielsen-Gammon received a Bachelor’s Degree in Earth and Planetary Sciences from MIT in 1984 and Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Meteorology from MIT in 1987 and 1990, respectively. He joined the faculty at Texas A&M University in 1991 and was appointed Texas State Climatologist in 2000. Dr. Nielsen-Gammon’s research includes drought monitoring and forecasting, climate data quality, heavy rain, air pollution meteorology, and data assimilation. He teaches courses in weather analysis and forecasting, atmospheric dynamics, and climatology. He is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), Past President of the International Commission for Dynamical Meteorology, and a former chair of the AMS’s Board on Higher Education. His recent awards include Editor’s Awards from both the AMS and the American Geophysical Union, the Outstanding Science Communicator Award from the Texas A&M Chapter of Sigma Xi, the Texas A&M SEC Distinguished Achievement Award, the College of Geosciences Dean’s Achievement Award for Service, and a Weather Hero award from the John C. Freeman Weather Museum. |
Angela Peabody, Global Woman P.E.A.C.E Foundation
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Angela Peabody is the founder of Global Woman P.E.A.C.E Foundation, is the first Liberian woman to publish a book in the US, has zero tolerance passion, and advocates against gender based violence especially against female genital mutilation. She was born in Monroeville, Liberia and moved to the USA after a coup d'etat. She went to college in New York City. After her younger sister died at the hands of her husband, Angela became an advocate against FGM, a very common occurrence in Liberia.
She believes that the one true solution to female genital mutilation, or the intentional removal of female genitalia for no medical reason, is education. She broke down the misconception that FGM is based religious and explained that this mistreatment is done for hygiene, the notion of "complete" womanhood, male dominance, and cultural tradition. |
Alia Salem, CAIR-DFW
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Alia Salem is the Executive Director of CAIR-DFW, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. She is from Fort Worth, TX and calls herself a redneck Egyptian. Her ancestors defended the Alamo in the Texas Independence War. She graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington where she studied communication, sociology, religion/culture, and interfaith relations.
She explained that Islam is a religion of peace and that stereotypes fail to recognize diversity. She emphasized that Islam promotes moderation and does not in any way promote terrorism. She also explained that in Islam, women are seen as equal to men and that extremism is caused by illness of society and government depression. She believes that Americans should be engaged and pick leaders who will listen to us to help end the corruption in the Middle East that triggers terrorist activity and to show American culture as being positive and not as an enemy to the Middle East. |
This annual event is designed to give Junior WAC high school students a wide perspective on the global landscape including international careers, what they entail and how to pursue their desired career path.
Participating high schools students hear from selected representatives and experts on topics such as:
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We attend this event in coalition with the Newman Smith French Honor Society. Because our students are so involved, many Human Rights Forum members are also French Honor Society members.
Merci to Mr. David Hardy, NSHS French teacher, for his support to the Forum, attending meetings whenever he can, and for always encouraging his French students to be involved with HRF. Monsieur, merci beaucoup pour ta passion pour les droits humains! |
The Newman Smith High School Human Rights Forum in coalition with student leaders from Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy and ConnecTeach, organized the first ever Student-Led Conference on Education as a Human Right.
There were three panel topics: gender and education, poverty and education, and displaced communities and education. After each panel discussion, there were three breakout sessions: action plan, anthology/spoken word, and a social media awareness campaign. Our panelists were: Morgen Amalbert (gender), Tannah Oppliger (gender), Heeyong Huh (poverty), Mindy Chi (poverty), and Benjamin Peillard (displaced peoples). |