At the U.N. Church Center this summer, Lauren Batchelder, center front, enjoyed meeting students from many different cultures and hearing their perspectives.

Lauren Batchelder, a senior at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and an alumna of Almond Elementary, Blach Intermediate and Mountain View High schools, just pulled off the first international convention for a group she was the only member on campus a year ago.

The speech communication major wants to make a difference in the world - for the better. After learning about the Student World Assembly from a professor, Batchelder quickly became SWA's director of public affairs, helping to launch the organization on the Cal Poly campus.

SWA was founded by the businessman Paul Reynault, whose lifelong dream has been to create a nongovernmental group to represent the people of the world much as the United Nations represents governments. The goal is an assembly so influential that governments will not be able to ignore its opinions.

SWA's first convention, held July 18-24 at CalPoly, "demonstrated everything I was working for," Batchelder said.

"The organization has the potential to alleviate some of the gap between the haves and have-nots." she said. "The goal is to influence policymakers' decisions - like the environmental movement's effect on policymakers."

Over the summer, in an effort to raise awareness of SWA on the East Coast, Batchelder addressed United Nations ambassadors and nongovernmental groups at the U.N. Church Center.

Students from LaGuardia Community College were at that event, and the result was that now SWA has headquarters on both coasts.

The first convention

The convention in San Luis Obispo completed SWA's first operational year. Delegates elected their first assembly speaker - Elahe Beheshti-Tabar, a student at Isfahan University in Iran - and their first vice assembly speaker - Allison Harry, a student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, who comes from the Caribbean country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The way students from different nations handled disagreements left a deep impression on Batchelder.

"This being our first year, there were a lot of growing pains, a lot of miscommunication both before and during the convention, but the way both delegates and staff handled it was admirable," she said. "Everyone was hugging and singing together at the end, although they had been in very heated debates a few hours before."

Students from around the world raised concerns, and the whole membership deliberated and proposed positions for SWA to vote on and adopt. The issues tackled in this first year are war and environmental sustainability.

"Individuals were able to focus on issues and get their points across but able to come together on a common goal," Batchelder reported.

She was enthusiastic about gaining a third-world perspective from some of the delegates to the convention. So far, students from 56 nations have joined SWA.

"Six students from Guyana brought an incredible amount of knowledge and enthusiasm to the convention that was really inspiring," Batchelder said.

"It was just an incredible experience to interact," she said. "I just could not believe how alike we are. No prompting at all was needed to form friendships. We focused on our common humanity instead of our differences."