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Amy Merriott's AP Human Geography class meets with Aparna Mehrotra, the niece of Dr. Kirti Mehrotra ,who works at UN Women. The group experienced technology issues and was not able to see Mehrotra.

How often does one meet a member of the United Nations? Rarely, one would assume. But that’s what Amy Merriott’s AP Human Geography class got to do on Feb. 16, with Assistant Principal Kirti Mehrotra’s niece, Aparna Mehrotra, who works for UN Women.

“So, last year, when in conversation with Dr. Mehrotra, she told me about her niece who works for the UN. This was a conversation that came up when I was explaining something related to women’s rights,” Merriott said.

Merriott’s conversation with Aparna Mehrotra started the first semester, and by the beginning of January, the two had already spoken over the phone.

“I was sharing with [Aparna] what was in our textbook for AP Human Geography, especially in the development aspect and in gender inequality. By early January, we skyped in the video conference room and she told me about the different things she deals with and conditions of women around the world,” Merriott said.

Before talking to Aparna, students discussed a variety of topics that ail women around the world.

“We talked about key things like the lack of toilets for women in India and how that creates violence, we talked about accessing water in Africa, and how they have to walk miles to get the water, we talked about no paid maternity leave in the U.S, and the #MeToo movement,” said Merriott.

During the class’ conversation with Aparna, students were encouraged to ask questions regarding women’s rights and the role of the UN.

“My goal was to have it flow and to have productive, meaningful questions that she could answer, and I think we achieved that. We sent questions in advance, some created by myself, some created by students. We also had the opportunity to ask them point blank,” Merriott said.

After 45 minutes of discussing the UN’s impingement on women’s rights on the global scale, Aparna Mehrotra left  Merriott’s AP Human Geography with this anecdote on the UN’s influence on the world.

“In the end, change must come from within,” Mehrotra said. “If we had a little more empowerment, we could do a little more. It’s not feasible. A country like India has 1.2 billion people. The UN has 2000-3000 people. It’s very difficult to expect the UN to make a definitive change in these large countries,” Mehrotra said.