2008 Woodie Awards
Sophomore Year Experience DC Trip Teaches About Genocide
David Simon
Issue date: 11/5/04 Section: News
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Lunch in a diner overlooking the White House with the Vice President of the World Bank was one of the highlights that impressed more than 100 students on a trip to Washington, D.C., organized by the Sophomore Year Experience (YSE).
The long-term benefits far outweighed the food and fine company. However, the participants also heard about genocide in the past century and learned from them how to prevent such atrocities from occurring in the future.
Colgate's program, started a year ago, takes sophomores to the Holocaust Museum in the Capital to foster discussion. A Colgate alumna, who wished to remain anonymous, funded the program.
"The idea came from West Point where they started this program several years ago," she said. "I thought it would be a really useful experience to Colgate students, and the administration also liked the idea."
This year the students arrived in a foggy Washington, D.C. After a nine-hour bus ride, the students were treated to a lunch at the top floor of the Washington Hotel with several prominent alumni and friends of Colgate.
In her keynote address, Dr. Pamela Cox, Vice President of the World Bank responsible for the Latin American region, used the example of the Peruvian terrorist group Sendero Luminoso to explain how poverty and violence are interrelated. This ultra-leftist organization gets most of its support from the most desperately poor people of the country.
Cox compared the situation in Peru to that in Europe after both World Wars. After World War I, the lack of real reconciliation and the poor economic conditions triggered another massacre. After World War II, the rebuilding projects and careful planning resulted in more than 50 years of peace and the formation of the European Union.
Counsel of Trade Relations of the Afghan Embassy Mirjam Nawari expressed her enthusiasm about the present situation in Afghanistan.
"The Afghan people have indeed learn the practice of democracy very quickly," she stated. "However, change takes a lot of time."
The long-term benefits far outweighed the food and fine company. However, the participants also heard about genocide in the past century and learned from them how to prevent such atrocities from occurring in the future.
Colgate's program, started a year ago, takes sophomores to the Holocaust Museum in the Capital to foster discussion. A Colgate alumna, who wished to remain anonymous, funded the program.
"The idea came from West Point where they started this program several years ago," she said. "I thought it would be a really useful experience to Colgate students, and the administration also liked the idea."
This year the students arrived in a foggy Washington, D.C. After a nine-hour bus ride, the students were treated to a lunch at the top floor of the Washington Hotel with several prominent alumni and friends of Colgate.
In her keynote address, Dr. Pamela Cox, Vice President of the World Bank responsible for the Latin American region, used the example of the Peruvian terrorist group Sendero Luminoso to explain how poverty and violence are interrelated. This ultra-leftist organization gets most of its support from the most desperately poor people of the country.
Cox compared the situation in Peru to that in Europe after both World Wars. After World War I, the lack of real reconciliation and the poor economic conditions triggered another massacre. After World War II, the rebuilding projects and careful planning resulted in more than 50 years of peace and the formation of the European Union.
Counsel of Trade Relations of the Afghan Embassy Mirjam Nawari expressed her enthusiasm about the present situation in Afghanistan.
"The Afghan people have indeed learn the practice of democracy very quickly," she stated. "However, change takes a lot of time."