Vashon High School student Sarah Schwarz grew up hearing stories about family members who died in the Holocaust. Now she and three other juniors at Vashon High School have the rare opportunity to travel to the nation’s capital to learn about the Holocaust and how it relates to modern-day bigotry.

Schwarz, Danielle Richardson, Danny Rosenberg and Julie Wilson were invited to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) 14th annual national youth leadership conference in Washington, D.C., which will take place next month.

At the conference, the Vashon teens will join about 40 students from the Seattle and Denver areas to study the Holocaust and explore how they can apply lessons from the genocide to the bigotry and discrimination that still exist.

“I think it will give me skills to lead and handle prejudices I come across in the future,” Schwarz said.

The students, who were nominated by their teachers to apply for the conference, will tour the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, meet with community leaders, government officials and Holocaust survivors and attend break-out sessions with the diverse group of students to discuss what they have learned.

Although she hasn’t experienced much discrimination on Vashon, Schwarz said she believes the four of them can develop strategies for improving awareness on Vashon and learn skills they can use throughout their lives.

“When I was applying, some of the questions were about how I’ve faced prejudice in my own life,” Schwarz said. “That really hasn’t happened, because Vashon is so open. … But at the same time on Vashon there is a lot of ignorance about other cultures, and in a way that can be harmful as well.”

The students’ experiences won’t be over when the conference ends. Wilson said the Washington attendees will meet for about a year after to continue discussing discrimination, and the high schoolers will develop projects to raise awareness in their own communities.

In the past, other participating high schools have invited Holocaust survivors to visit their schools, planned social action campaigns and even lobbied their state Legislature to require that genocide be taught in schools.

“I think they want us to gain from this mission skills to help our community grow no matter how few the prejudices may be,” Wilson said.