|
A small child walks through the tall brush — the birds overhead singing, the sweet aroma of fresh flowers in the air. The child slowly walks into the clearing and then, suddenly, there is an explosion. She has stepped on a land mine.
Senior Jackie Nelson felt so strongly about the issue of land mines that she wrote to President Clinton about the use of children during war. That’s just one of the global issues that interest Nelson — an interest which won her a three-week all-expense-paid trip to the East Coast, and almost won her a trip to Europe for two weeks.
Nelson and 126 other students traveled to New York, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia last summer. About 30 of the participants had their way paid through a contest sponsored by the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs Foundation, a group which helps with the Special Olympics and programs for the blind, and supports Christmas lighting in Whitefish and Columbia Falls.
“It (the tour) gives students a chance to learn about American government and American history,” said Jackie Nelson, Jackie’s namesake and grandmother.
During the trip to the East Coast, Nelson and other participants had fours hours to research an essay topic dealing with a United Nations humanitarian effort. “I wrote about the inhumane ways children were used during wars,” Nelson said. Out of about 200 students Nelson received fifth place.
“If I would have gotten first or second place,” she said, “I could have won a two-week trip to Europe.”
|
|
