Jordanian Queen Visits New York School

Queen Rania visited New York for the first time as UNGEI global chair.
Jordanian Queen Visits New York School
INSPIRATION: Queen Rania of Jordan smiles in a classroom at the Young Women's Leadership School in East Harlem. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
9/21/2009
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/91001568.jpg" alt="INSPIRATION: Queen Rania of Jordan smiles in a classroom at the Young Women's Leadership School in East Harlem.  (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)" title="INSPIRATION: Queen Rania of Jordan smiles in a classroom at the Young Women's Leadership School in East Harlem.  (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1826134"/></a>
INSPIRATION: Queen Rania of Jordan smiles in a classroom at the Young Women's Leadership School in East Harlem.  (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Jordanian Queen Rania Al Abdullah visited a public school for young women in East Harlem, New York on Monday, giving an inspirational talk.

“I want you, girls with voices, to speak up and shout out for girls whose cries fall silent,” said Queen Rania. “I want you to fight for them, as others are fighting for you. I want you to pull up another girl, and help her stand tall and strong. I want you to be great and inspire greatness in others. If anyone can do it, you can.”

Queen Rania became the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) first eminent advocate for children in January 2007 and has since supported various education initiatives aimed at giving girls great access to education.

Recently in July 2009, she began to serve as United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative’s (UNGEI) honorary global chair.

The visit to the Young Women’s Leadership School in East Harlem was Queen Rania’s first trip to New York as UNGEI global chair.

The school is the United States’ first single-gender public school to open in the nation in more than 30 years. For nine consecutive years, all of the graduates of this middle and high school have pursued higher education.

Queen Rania, accompanied by UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman, met with the school’s students and staff to discuss the role quality education plays in improving children’s lives.

“Providing quality education to girls is a sound investment that helps build a brighter future for their communities and their countries,” said Veneman.

During their visit, Queen Rania and Veneman spoke to and took questions from a 100-student body in an assembly. The queen then used the computers in the library to show the girls how their voices can be heard through 1Goal, a campaign that aims to get 75 million out-of-school children in Africa and in the world’s poorest nations into school.

“Her Majesty Queen Rania is a strong voice promoting access to a quality education for children around the world,” said Veneman.

Since 1999, the total number of out-of-school children has dropped by 16 percent globally.