Running Start

Washington retreat gives Rachel Brooks tools for a political future.

Alex Zaslow
Teen2Teen Staff Writer

R

achel Brooks plans to make a
difference in the world, and a
special summer program added
to her already impressive resume. At 17,
she has decided to someday seek a career
in public service. She is a senior at the
International Academy in Bloomfield Hills.
Brooks volunteered to work on Barack
Obama's successful campaign for the
presidency. She is fluent in Spanish and is
involved with the Spanish Honor Society
as well as the Federal Reserve Challenge
Club at her school. She also is a mem-
ber of International Academy's Jewish
Students Association and its Gay Straight
Whatever Alliance.
Rachel, who lives in Bloomfield Hills,
works at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield
as an office assistant, Sunday school aide
and Hebrew tutor.
Last year, Brooks saw an ad in her
school's weekly newspaper for a Young
Women's Political Leadership Program
retreat sponsored by Running Start, a
Washington, D.C., nonprofit dedicated to
bring young women to politics. The retreat
was scheduled for July 2009 at American
University in Washington, D.C.

She applied, but had doubts of accep-
tance because 30,000 applicants were
competing against her. Acceptance was
based on the applicant's leadership
potential, demonstrated commitment to
excellence in academics and passion for
community, government, service and peer
mentoring. Brooks was one of 49 young
women selected.
Running Start focuses on the critical
issues women face today and exposes the
participants to the tools necessary if they
ever want to run for office.
Selected participants were from differ-
ent backgrounds and from all 50 states.
Some even came from Nepal, Cuba and
Indonesia.
"We are thrilled to have such a diverse
group of girls who are talented and pas-
sionate about running for political office
said Susannah Shakow, president and
founder of Running Start.
During this four-day retreat, Brooks
learned not only about leadership and
politics, but also different cultures and
people.
"I was surrounded by a bunch of girls
who were pretty amazing people she said.
"Some started their own organizations."
Brooks spoke of how one girl wanted
to work in Burma to change policy about

how women are treated there.
"This retreat did a great job creating
a path for my future," she said. "Their
[Running Start's] mission was to give high
school girls the encouragement, support,
knowledge and inspiration they need to
run for an elected position."
The workshop trains the girls in impor-
tant leadership skills, induding public
speaking, advocacy, role-playing and debate,
collaboration and persuasive writing.
The young women learned about politi-
cal leadership by working with influential
women leaders and many congresswomen.
"At the retreat, I got to see all the incred-
ible women and all the benefits of being
a politician:' Brooks said. "They made
changes that affect everyone."
She fell in love with politics after the
retreat. "I gained confidence in my own
leadership abilities:' she said. "Now I can
bring more change to the community and
advocate for my beliefs."
Before the retreat, Brooks wanted to
run a nonprofit organization. She had cre-
ated a charitable foundation called Saving
Haiti. It provides basic necessities such as
food, shelter, medical attention and educa-
tion to families in Haiti.
Brooks plans to earn a degree in inter-
national relations. She will focus on eco-

Rachel Brooks and her new friend

Lakshmi Somasundaram

nomics as a path to pursuing a career of
running a global nonprofit organization.
She hopes to attend either Sarah Lawrence
College in New York or the University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor.
"To be a good politician you have to
communicate with people effectively:'
she said. "And when you do, change
occurs." fl

Alex Zaslow, 1.8, Is a freshman at Indiana

University In Bloomington.

Trading Cultures

Kids learn firsthand through art, music and food.

Lily Grier
Teen2Teen Staff Writer

F

or four days in July, I participated
in Cultural Understanding Students
& Adults for Museum Education.
Jewish, Arab and African American sixth- to
eighth-graders met every day at museum
venues in Metro Detroit that partnered in
the program. We came together at these
common places to learn about and appreci-
ate each other's cultures.
We spent the first day at Shalom Street
in the Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield, where we learned about
Jewish culture. I did a project involving
the different museum exhibits, where
the focus was Jewish comfort foods.
Everybody made and took home a loaf of
challah. We did different art projects, such

as decorating candlesticks and tzedekah
boxes. A sofer (scribe) spoke to us about
writing the Torah. We also learned a few
Israeli dances from a dance instructor.
The next day, we went to the Arab
American National Museum in Dearborn,
where we learned about the Arab culture.
We made art projects, such as prayer
beads. I even received a henna tattoo on
my hand. A dance teacher taught us a few
dances, both group and individual. We
also had a guided tour of the museum.
At the Charles H. Wright Museum of
African American History in Detroit, the
first thing I did was change into a costume,
dressing as the wife of the oba, or king. All
of the characters were related to African roy-
alty as well as African slavery. When every-
one was dressed, we went to a celebration,
where we saw a performance with tradi-

tional African drumming,
singing and dancing.
As we walked through
the museum, we were
captured into "slavery" and
put on a crowded boat to
America and put to work
as slaves. We went through
the Underground Railroad,
where we found freedom
on the other side of the
Daniel Chandross, West Bloomfield; Marc Goldberg and
Northern border in Canada. An Segel, Farmington Hills; Kayli Silverstein, Novi; Lily
This firsthand experience Grier, West Bloomfield
taught me what life was like
for the enslaved Africans.
On the last day, we went to the Henry Ford spent the week learning — that we are all
different and yet the same. II
Museum in Dearborn for an experience that
touched all the cultures. At the end, an art
Lily Grier, 13, Is an eighth-grader at Orchard
project involving creating a whole person
from many parts summarized what we had
Lake Middle School in West Bloomfield.

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September 17 2009

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