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Summer break is usually spent at a summer job or poolside, but Felix Forster ’09 (Rostock, Germany) will spend his summer studying human rights in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The mathematics-economics major will be taking part in the core summer fellowship program sponsored by Humanity in Action (HIA), an organization based in New York City.
Through education programs, research, and internships, HIA students study human rights and minority population related issues in New York City or one of five European cities – Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, Berlin, or Warsaw. HIA focuses on three interrelated areas of historic and contemporary importance: examples of resistance to the Holocaust; the development of international human rights institutions and doctrines, through the establishment of new standards, rules, and procedures in the aftermath of World War II; and current minority issues and their relationship to human rights.
Forster was selected to go to Amsterdam, where he will explore minority positions from the time during the Holocaust until today’s integration of Muslims through seminar sessions, presentations, and visits of specific locations.
“While the programs in each of the particular settings focus on issues specific to their region, most of them include topics about the Holocaust in their curricula,” says Forster.
The programs start with a preparation session in Washington, D.C. on May 29 for students from American colleges and universities. All the HIA fellows will then fly to Berlin, where they meet the HIA European fellows at another introduction session. After two days in Berlin, smaller groups are then sent to their respective cities and start the actual program, lasting until July 5.
For Forster, his interest in Humanity in Action extends from his high school years and his involvement with Lafayette’s Foundation for the Awareness and Alleviation of Poverty (FAAP).
“Aside from being the president of FAAP, I contributed largely to the implementation of a new project called DreamsWork, which attempts to employ the concept of micro-finance in Easton,” he says.
Forster believes his time at Lafayette has prepared him for his upcoming experience.
“Lafayette has provided me with the resources to be able to grow though my work with FAAP and other extracurricular activities,” he says. “It has to be noted though, that anybody who wants to benefit from these resources needs to take it into his or her own hands, and I was lucky to have found a passion in development economics that almost forced me to do so. Nevertheless, I would not have made it without that support.”
Aside from being president of FAAP, Forster also is a resident adviser, a member of the International Students Association, and leads a graffiti-art workshop at the Easton Teen Center. He also is performing EXCEL Scholars research with Ed Gamber, professor of economics and business.