THREE students from a Gateshead school are heading to the heart of European politics in the name of peace.
The trio from Emmanuel College won the chance to join young people from the 28 EU member states at Euroscola, an all expenses paid chance to see the workings of the European Parliament in Strasbourg for a day.
Rebecca Pittman, Robyn Watt and Jack Manning were chosen to be part of the North East delegation after entering a competition to design a poster focusing on the European Parliament's commitment to peace and incorporating the plurilingualism of the EU.
"We thought it was a really good opportunity so we decided to go for it," explained Rebecca, 17, of Chapel House.
Explaining the poster design, Jack, 17, of Blaydon, said: "We thought it would be a good idea to cover the theme of peace by finding the word in all the different languages and also to include different people's quotations about what peace meant to them."
The design includes quotes from a host of international figures from Albert Einstein to Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa to Jimi Hendrix.
"My favourite is Mahatma Gandhi's, "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind"," added Jack.
Robyn, 16, of Lobley Hill, was responsible was adding flags from around the world. "It involved quite a bit of research and I learned a lot doing it," she said.
The Emmanuel students will travel with 21 others from the region whose posters were selected by the international office at Durham County Council.
Steve Mulgrew, a teacher of German at Emmanuel, said: "The students worked on their design entirely independently and just presented it to me the day before the deadline.
"I'm delighted they will get the chance to go to the European Parliament. It's a tremendous opportunity for them not only to see how the EU works but also to meet other students from our region and from across Europe."
