Well-traveled local student learns leadership in D.C.

It's no secret that the West Shore is home to some remarkable talent, but not all have set the bar as high as 17 year-old Daniella Rottier of Lakeside.

Like a handful of other exemplary students nominated by their teachers to take part in the program, Rottier recently attended the Congressional Youth Leadership Council's National Young Leaders Conference (NYLC) in Washington, D.C., even though she was the only one from Montana who took part.

Unlike most people her age, Rottier already has a handle on what she wants to do with the rest of her life and has taken steps to turn her dream into reality. Now a senior at Flathead High School, she has already traveled to 20 different countries and even had the opportunity to teach English to children in Thailand.

Far from vacationing abroad, Rottier's travels have been with her parents, who routinely take mission trips to other countries as part of their work with the Youth With a Mission program. Her father heads up a discipleship training school, while her mother performs hospitality, tending to the needs of other missionaries.

In addition to Thailand, their journeys have taken them to South Africa, Jamaica, Indonesia and a number of other countries. For six years, Rottier lived in Switzerland, where she attended a French-speaking school until she was nine years old.

As one might imagine, her trip to Washington D.C. in March was somewhat tame by comparison. Even so, Rottier said she viewed the trip as a great opportunity, during which she acquired a wealth of insight into being a leader.

"I learned a lot about leadership and how to get your voice heard as a civil leader," she said. "The purpose was to equip young people to go back to their communities and make a difference."

Amid the usual flurry of activities that are part of the NYLC program, which included visiting prominent national monuments and museums and being part of a mock congressional crime committee, attendees were able to tour Capitol Hill and sit in on a session of the United States Senate.

"I got to meet and talk to both Montana senators," she said. "We got to do down below where the senators sit. No other public group is allowed to go there. The senators challenged us to do what we want to do and to be a leader. They said that you don't have to be in government to make a difference and make major changes happen.

"I enjoyed the whole thing, but meeting the senators was really cool. It was something that I never thought I would do. I especially liked seeing the Capitol Hill area and the different government buildings, and I was able to meet people from all over the U.S."

Another highlight, she added, was her visit to the Holocaust museum. Although it was her second time visiting the museum, she said she found it sobering to view the exhibits and see the suffering inflicted on so many by those who saw themselves as superior.

"It's really moving when you go and look at the pictures," she said. "It makes you think about what you can do. Equality and justice are important to me. I don't like to see injustice. I guess I tend toward those types of issues. It just comes natural to stand up for others who are treated unfairly and to oppose injustice. I've traveled a lot, and I've seen what other people go through, and equality is something I am passionate about."

She recalled her time in Thailand and the poverty she witnessed there in various villages. She witnessed the effects of governmental failures, rampant adult and child prostitution and subsequent health issues, as well as the lack of proper education.

"I really want to do something for them," she said. "My heart goes out to those people. They try their best to live life, but its so hard there. I want everybody to have opportunities and to have the kind of education that we have. They have so little, but they're so happy with what they've got. They don't know any better. It's neat to see that you really don't need a lot to be happy in life."

While such thought may seem idealistic coming from one so young, Rottier has her mind made up. Upon returning from NYLC, Rottier made a trip to Taylor University, in Indiana, after which she planned to make her final decision about which college to attend. College, she said, is the next step toward fulfilling her dream of helping poverty stricken nations by providing better education.

"After college, I want to be an elementary teacher and teach in an international school," she said. "One of my goals and dreams in life is to touch a child's life, so I really hope that I can bring that kind of change into the world. It's something that has been on my heart since I was young, probably to some extent because of what I've seen in some of the countries that I've been to."

Rottier described herself as the kind of person who likes to get things done. Whether that means initiating the process and then turning it over to others or picking up what other people have begun and seeing it through, she said, isn't the important part, but rather seeing that it gets done. In fact, she is just as happy being the person behind the scenes.