Eighth-grader crosses California to Conduct Research on Eleanor Roosevelt

an article by Emy Takada

Parmita Choudhury, a 14-year-old student from Clovis, CA, drove about 300 miles with her parents to San Diego to interview members of the United Nations Association of San Diego about Eleanor Roosevelt. For the second year, Choudhury is participating on a school project to compete at the National History Day, and this year she decided to write a play about Eleanor Roosevelt. She entered the state level of the competition with the script and a performance, and is now a state finalist, winning the Gloria T. Hirsch Women's Study Award.

The exceptional result so far is hugely based on Choudhury's family support and encouragement. Her parents and siblings did not save on efforts to provide Choudhury with the deepest information on Eleanor Roosevelt who, along with her work on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, played an important role supporting and spreading the ideals of the United Nations Association of the United States. Roosevelt's passionate attitude inspired Choudhury to write the play in her honor. Choudhury shared her thoughts about the project during her visit to San Diego.

"I chose Eleanor Roosevelt because of her work in the United Nations and her role as first lady, and how she stood out against segregation and women's rights," she said.

"I was rewriting the script and I needed more information about United Nations, and decided to come here, and have a real face-to-face conversation.

Choudhury and her family also attended the UNA-SD International Career Day and found a double benefit by meeting students and faculty of the University of California San Diego, I-House and Eleanor Roosevelt campus. She came specifically to San Diego "because of the Eleanor Roosevelt Global Classroom, and because [Eleanor Roosevelt] herself requested San Diego to become an academic center."

The Eleanor Roosevelt Global Classroom at UNA-SD holds classes about the U.N., human rights, and UNICEF. For more information on UNA-SD, please visit www.unasd.org.

DISCUSSION

Question(s) related to this article:

Will Americans support a stronger UN?,

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Latest reader comment:

Thanks for this article, Nancy!

I was at the "Platform for Peace" discussion at the Boston Social Forum and it was great to hear the phrase "culture of peace" used repeatedly by almost every speaker. But, it's too bad that no one mentioned CPNN or the Culture of Peace program at the UN.

Hopefully, CPNN and the Coalition for a Strong UN can continue to support each other and get the word out.

Cheers!

This report was posted on August 3, 2006.

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