Newtown High School students and Junior Newtown Action Alliance (Jr NAA) Co-Presidents Jackson Mittleman and Tommy Murray recently traveled to Costa Rica to take part in a PeaceJam Youth Summit on Gun Violence.

According to a program for the event, the summit brought together two Nobel Peace Laureates, Oscar Arias Sánchez and Jody Williams, to work with the youth attendees. Over the course of the summit, the summit had participating students from around the country speak with Mr Arias and Ms Williams and work together as a group.

“One of my biggest takeaways is probably learning from all of the other delegates because they all come from different backgrounds,” Tommy reflected on November 16. All of the students who attended the event shared experiences from different types of tragedies, he said, and the summit brought “new perspectives.”

Tommy said he and Jackson were there for the full course of the summit, and the group learned a lot from Ms Williams and Mr Arias. The most important thing the students learned from the Nobel Peace Laureates, Tommy said, was that there are many ways to solve gun violence, including communicating and working with the “other side.”

When members of the Jr NAA join others to travel to Washington, DC for the National Vigil for Gun Violence Victims, December 5, both Tommy and Jackson said they will bring the lesson of communicating with them.

“I think we should start putting more effort into communicating with Congress,” said Tommy.

Mr Arias, a former president of Costa Rica, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. With the Nobel monetary award, according to a program for the summit, Mr Arias created the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress. Ms Williams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, after campaigning to end the production and use of landmines. She has since joined other women “to form the Nobel Women’s Initiative to bring attention to women and children’s rights around the world,” according to the program.

The summit began with a welcome and hike. As part of the second day, the group visited Mr Arias in his home for a roundtable discussion. The group also visited the UN University for Peace. Other activities included skill-building workshops held with Ms Williams.

Jackson said the entire summit was “amazing.”

Jackson said he learned from Mr Arias to start conversations, initiate thought-provoking ideas, and speak with people who do not “necessarily agree with you.”

“I really loved speaking with [Mr Arias] because I think he has so much to teach people,” said Jackson, adding that speaking with Ms Williams inspired the students at the summit to work together.

There were 17 students at the summit, and they traveled from places like Santa Fe, Texas; Denver, Colo.; Houston, Texas; New York, N.Y.; Washington, DC; Orlando, Fla.; and other areas.

“It really opened our minds up to a lot,” said Jackson, reflecting on how he learned other students have been working across the country to support laws against street crime and other violent acts. He learned how other students have started social movements, and everything he learned made him reflect on the Jr NAA’s efforts. Both Jackson and Tommy said Jr NAA will work to broaden its efforts against gun violence, as there are more “ways to tackle this issue,” Jackson said.

While the students attending the summit arrived as 17 individuals, Jackson said the group left as a coalition, ready to work together in a unified effort, as inspired by Ms Williams.

“We figure that now, with the Democratic [United States House of Representatives], it is a good opportunity to get some change through,” Jackson said.

The new coalition of students has plans to continue working together, according to Jackson, and a group meeting is being planned to reconvene. Overall, Jackson said he feels lucky he was able to attend the summit to meet many people and make new friends.