Brescia Student to Attend Education Advocacy Training in Washington, D.C.

The Global Campaign for Education-US Chapter announces the acceptance of Patricia Crespo to its 2015 Summer Youth Advocacy Training in Washington, D.C. Crespo, a student at Brescia University, will spend four days in Washington, D.C., starting June 21, 2015, learning about education as a right around the world and how she can mobilize her community to help the nearly 121 million youth worldwide that are unable to access their right to a quality education due to barriers such as poverty, child marriage, lack of a trained teacher or gender based violence. She is the second student to attend this training from Brescia University.

“I applied to the Youth Advocacy Training because I have a strong desire to learn more about education and share this knowledge with my community in the hopes of benefiting society nationally and globally,” said Crespo. “Coming from a developing nation, I have firsthand experience in seeing the marginal differences between education policies and practices between two nations. I believe education paves the way for enabling the poor and working classes to an equal opportunity in life, thus bringing us closer to social justice.”

“The Global Campaign for Education-US believes in the right to education and the responsibility to advocate for it. So it’s great for young people in the U.S. to become advocates for those around the world who are seeking a quality education, like Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen education advocate,” said GCE-US Director, Dr. Edwin Gragert. “Youth in the U.S. have a critically important role to play–to share their opinions on this issue with the media, their communities and elected officials. The 21 advocates coming to D.C. in June will leave with the skills they need to make a difference.”

Students will hear and learn from GCE-US coalition organizations about the work they are doing around the world and how the students can share this work as well as their personal experiences with the media and elected officials to ensure that all youth have access to a quality education. In addition, communication specialists, as well as representatives of government agencies and non-profit organizations, will share methods of sharing information and perspectives in ways that will have the largest impact.