The Quest leaders and participants unite around an oversized globe after painting their tracks around its perimeter.

This summer, members of the newly formed La Roche College Peace Builders chose to spend part of their summer promoting peace. The Peace Builders - who are all La Roche College students - hosted a new summer program called The Quest, a camp designed especially for high school students. Its goal is to bring together young people interested in promoting and examining peace on interpersonal, local, national and global levels. Such a goal takes on even greater meaning in a post-September 11th world.

"La Roche has so much diversity to offer," said Bethann Galaska, a La Roche junior majoring in international studies and one of the eight members of the Peace Builders. "The Quest is a great way for us to open our cultural doors to the community's children."

High school students attending The Quest peace camp participate in a dining activity designed to demostrate the world's unequal distribution of wealth.

The Quest is the brainchild of three members of the College's administrative staff: Sr. Sally Witt, director of community outreach; Lucille Adkins, registrar; and Dr. Kathy Sullivan, campus director of the Pacem In Terris program for international students. Witt, Adkins and Sullivan modeled The Quest after a similar peace camp in Baden.

"We wanted to make peace personal," said Adkins. "We wanted these young people to meet other young people who have experienced conflict. That way, they can put a face and a name to war and conflict. Then it becomes personal, and not just something that they see on television."

Witt, Adkins and Sullivan chose the eight members of the Peace Builders based on their dedication to fostering peace. The eight students represent several areas of the world, including the United States, the Middle East and Africa. The Peace Builders served as camp leaders during The Quest, held on campus from June 25 to 27.

Thirteen high school students attended The Quest this year. They engaged in a variety of exercises geared toward appreciating other cultures and practicing peaceful ways of life. Among the activities were workshops, group discussions, personal reflection and journal writing.

One exercise showed the students the unequal distribution of wealth in the world. The students and Peace Builders were randomly divided into three groups for dinner. Three people were in the wealthy group. They sat at a table with place settings and ate chicken, pasta and rice. Six of the students were placed in what was called the moderate group. They sat in chairs placed in a circle and dined on rice with forks. The last group was the poor group, and included the remaining eleven participants. This group sat on the floor and ate rice, but they were not given any utensils. They had to eat with their hands. Following the exercise, the Peace Builders stressed to the students that far more people are poor than are rich or even middle class.

Attendees of The Quest create individual peace flags to represent their ideas about peace.

The camp's activities provided one avenue for exploration and reflection. The mere presence of students from around the world provided another. In many cases, The Quest represented the first time that attendees had ever been exposed to young people from another country.

Haytham Al-Madbouh, a member of the Peace builders and a Pacem In Terris student from the Middle East, said his basic motivation for being part of the program was this intercultural exchange. Al-Madbouh is from Bethlehem, a site of recent and intense fighting. Al-Madbouh wants people to better understand his culture. He also wants people to know that outbreaks of violence do not have to be perpetuated.

"I want to feel like I'm doing something to change the situation (in the Middle East)," said Al-Madbouh.

In its first year, The Quest drew high school students from as far away as New York. Dwayne Peoples, 16, of Harlem, NY, and Leonard Middleton, 17, of Bronx, NY, were attracted to the program because of the chance to interact with new people. Both boys attend Rice High School in New York.

Peoples heard about The Quest from one of his teachers at Rice. He was interested because the program was international in focus. "This is something that the world can use as a foundation for peace," he said.

Middleton agreed. He welcomed the chance to interact with people from other cultures. "I wanted to learn and also to give some of what I know to other people," he said.

Through sharing and through various activities, those who attended the inaugural edition of The Quest believe they may have laid the groundwork for better understanding.

"I'm more aware of other cultures now," said Katrina Greco, of New Kensington, PA. "It was a good chance to learn about differences."

The high school students who attended the program this year will return next year and be trained as junior Peace Builders. They will then help to direct next year's camp, scheduled for the summer of 2003.