When Vashon High School juniors Emily Gripp and Max Westerman heard the news this week, they were ecstatic.

The two have been accepted to travel to the nation’s capital in March through an Anti-Defamation League sponsored youth conference on tolerance and understanding.

Through the Robert B. Sturm Youth Leadership Mission, Gripp and Westerman will visit the United States Holocaust Museum and Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. and learn strategies for spreading acceptance.

The purpose of the youth mission is to help attendees learn lessons from the history of the Holocaust about bigotry and tolerance, lessons they can then apply in their own communities.

“I’m looking forward to learning about other ethnic groups, other races and other religions,” Westerman said. “I want to see their points of view.”

Gripp added that prejudice can occur based on more than a person’s ethnicity or religion. Agism, too, is a prejudice she’d like to learn how to address, she said.

“Agism is how adults don’t think kids are able to do things,” she said. “I’d like to reduce prejudice against youth in our community.”

She’d also like to advocate for the physically disabled, she said.

Gripp and Westerman, friendly and enthusiastic students, said they’re thrilled they were accepted to such a competitive program. Only 14 students from the Seattle region were selected to be part of the conference; 26 students from the Denver area will also attend.

“I am so excited — completely astounded,” Gripp said.

The program is paid for by Sturm, an Anti-Defamation League member, and all the students’ costs are covered.

The youth conference fits well with the mission of the Anti-Defamation League — to ensure fair and just treatment for all, said Hilary Bernstein, community director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Pacific Northwest region, in an e-mail.

The league also strives to educate young people, giving them tools to become allies with others within their community and across communities, she said.

The Robert B. Sturm Youth Leadership Mission will teach attendees strategies for standing up against bigotry, according to a press release.

After attending the youth program, Gripp and Westerman will return to Vashon as ambassadors, sharing the lessons they learned on the trip with others, according to the release.

“I’m looking forward to going across the country for three days, learning the history of the city and meeting everyone else on the trip,” Westerman said.