AMY SZPARA

PHOTO: Rachel Navarre is a 17-year-old LaPlace resident who will soon be attending a special summer school at Georgetown University for future leaders. Interested in foreign policy and international relations, the high school senior is concerned about human rights around the world. (Staff Photo by Amy Szpara) LAPLACE – She is a person concerned with human rights, a girl who wants to make a difference by effecting our own foreign policy and working in international relations. She may work for Amnesty International or at a U.S. Embassy. She has even thought about doing more mission work, something she has already spent time doing in Mexico. “I’m really aware of the poverty and limited freedoms that people have in other countries,” said 17-year-old Rachel Navarre, a senior at Archbishop Chapelle High School in New Orleans who lives in LaPlace. “I’m concerned about people in general, but especially the children. They’re just kids. They haven’t done anything wrong to anybody.” Navarre, a Gifted and Talented Student who is a member of the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, Ambassadors, Retreat Team and Matthew 25 Service Club, has been given the opportunity of a lifetime, and she will soon be on her way to learn about foreign policy. Selected to attend a special summer school for future leaders, Navarre will be attending the 2001 Junior Statesmen Summer School at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The 61st annual session begins Sunday and runs through July 29, and Navarre will be taking a course in foreign policy, meeting senators and representatives and taking a congressional workshop. She will be getting a head start in what she plans to study in college. After finishing her senior year, Navarre plans to attend a university and study international relations. Navarre was selected based on her ACT scores and an application packet she submitted. Her school counselor recommended her for the program. She will stay at the Georgetown dorms while at the school, and meals will be provided. Though her family has raised some money for her trip, she is still short. Local civic groups, council members and friends of the family have offered donations. Navarre has until August to pay the $3,100 bill that will follow her trip to Washington. Navarre said she is eager to attend the session this summer, stating that it is her goal to continue to do service work. The two mission trips to Mexico proved to be life-changing for her, as she helped distribute food and clothing to people in need. She saw homes made from cardboard, which made her desperate to do something to help. Part of the production of “Godspell” at the St. John Theatre in Reserve, Navarre, along with other teens, helped raise money to build a cinder block house for a Mexican family. “A lot of times we (Americans) interact with other countries, like China, and we don’t even bring up the human rights issues. We need to bring it up with our policy making,” said Navarre. “And there are a lot of countries in Africa and the Middle East that are still developing governments. A lot of wars go on there, as well. Some of the treatment of women and children during war is also terrible.” Though Navarre is close to her family, her mother, father, two little sisters and large extended family, and will miss them when she is out of the country in the future working toward her human rights goals, she said she is used to traveling. Aside from going to Mexico twice, she has also been to Canada with the Girl Scouts, which she is also a member. She has worked as a program aide for younger troops, and the group visited Canadian scouts at one time. They attended an international camp. Navarre, still a year from college, is looking into Ole Miss, New York University and Florida, though she said her dream college is Georgetown, a place she will get to see in a few days. “I hope to check out the campus and meet some people and see if that is where I really want to go. It may be hard at times to be away from my family in the future, especially at Thanksgiving because I won’t always be able to fly down,” she said, “but this is what I want to do.” “I’m really proud of her,” said Navarre’s mother, Debra Navarre. “I think this will be a great opportunity, especially if she wants to go into international relations. She’ll see the interworkings of the government up close.” Her father, Steve Navarre, added, “I think it will be a good experience. By her doing this it will show her the true way that politics are supposed to be. It will give her the inside of the political machine.” To raise money to pay the expenses for Navarre’s trip to Washington, the family is considering holding a raffle. For more information about that, call them at 652-2790. Anyone wishing to make an individual donation to help Navarre can send a check to Admissions Director, The Junior Statesmen Summer School, 60 E. Third Ave., Suite 320, San Mateo, CA 94401. Checks are made payable to Junior Statesmen Foundation and should include a note that Rachel Navarre is the intended beneficiary. The Junior Statesmen Foundation is a 501© (3) tax-exempt educational organization founded in 1938. Contributions to the foundation are tax deductible.