From the Ventura County Star
By Michele Willer-Allred

Several Westlake High School students will be studying the legacy of President Ronald Reagan as they travel to Europe Saturday for a student exchange program.

Liberty Education Tours offers American and European students the opportunity to study the words and actions of Reagan and other leaders while visiting sites significant to the history of freedom and democracy in the United States and central Europe.

The 18 American students from California, Texas, Tennessee and Alaska are traveling to the Czech Republic and Germany to explore the history of communism and the events that led to its demise.

The tour program is part of the Reagan Legacy Foundation’s celebration of what would have been Reagan’s 100th birthday on Feb. 6.

“Defending freedom and democracy was (Ronald Reagan’s) life mission and I can think of no better way to honor my father’s centennial birthday than to give young people here in the United States and in democracies across the globe the opportunity to walk the path of history with leaders like (Ronald Reagan), who made possible the quality of life they enjoy,” said Michael Reagan, eldest son of Ronald Reagan.

In the Czech Republic, the students will visit the village of Lidice, where Adolf Hitler ordered the murder of all males in retaliation for the assassination of a top Nazi officer by Czech resistance fighters.

They will also see portions of the Iron Curtain at the Czech-Austrian border and the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp.

In Germany, they will visit the Brandenburg Gate where Reagan delivered his famous “Tear down this wall” speech in 1987, the Holocaust Memorial, the Jewish Museum, Stasi Prison and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.

Students will also visit the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, located at the most notable Berlin Wall crossing point during the Cold War.

The European students, who are arriving in Los Angeles on July 6, will receive a special guided tour of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum and the Museum of Tolerance.

They will join the American students on July 15 in Santa Barbara to take part in a summer student conference presented by the Young America’s Foundation. They will also visit Ronald Reagan’s Santa Barbara ranch.

A graduation banquet will be held July 17 in Santa Barbara, where Michael Reagan will present each student with The Reagan Legacy Foundation Freedom Fellow award.

Denise Nielsen, chairwoman of educational programs for the Reagan Legacy Foundation, will be chaperoning the students in Europe.

Nielsen said the students were chosen because of their diverse life experiences and their eagerness to learn about other parts of the world.

“It’s a life-altering trip, and it’s going to take them out of their comfort zone and give them an entirely new perspective on freedom and the principles of democracy,” Nielsen said.

Westlake High School student Pabasara Jayasena, 16, is one of six students going on the trip from his school.

“We’ve learned about the Holocaust, but it will definitely be quite a different experience actually going there,” Jayasena said.

Westlake High student Elizabeth Matusov, 15, said the trip will be very personal for her.

Her parents are immigrants from Russia, and without Ronald Reagan she said her parents would not be in the United States and she wouldn’t have been born.

“The trip will be very moving, but it’ll also be the most fun trip in my life too,” Matusov said.