Veterans for Peace has selected an organizer for an anti-nuclear weapon conference that will be held in Juneau in 2020.
Shelby Surdyk of Skagway will plan and coordinate the International Youth Congress for the Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
“Being involved with the Youth Congress would be a dream come true for me,” Surdyk said in a release. “I want to build opportunities for Alaskan students to grapple with the grave and important topics of nuclear weapons proliferation.”
While working on her master’s degree at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, Surdyk has been studying the health effects of depleted uranium weapons on the Iraqi population. Surdyk’s experience in this field began in 2007 with a high school project called Students Educating for Nuclear Awareness.
That project included a theatrical description of the U.S. Nuclear Testing Program in the Marshall Islands which was performed in high schools throughout Alaska and in the Marshall Islands. It culminated in a three-day World Nuclear Awareness Conference at the University of Alaska Southeast.
She’ll be in Juneau in mid-October for a film screening at UAS, and will return to town in January. She’ll work on organizing the project while she completes her master’s degree work in Beirut.
