By Jolie Stuart-Davis

Monday kicked off this year's Freedom Week for conservatives everywhere. This is my second year participating in Young America's Foundation's campus initiative and I am very proud to support freedom at Penn State.

Freedom Week commemorates two important dates: The fall of the Berlin Wall and Veteran's day.

Looking back at the fall of the Berlin Wall helps students, many of whom were not yet born, learn how Ronald Reagan brought freedom to 300 million people trapped behind the Iron Curtain. Yet most students will likely not learn the value of freedom in today's classrooms. It is up young people everywhere to stand up for freedom and for those who fight to defend it. 

We remember those who paid the ultimate price to ensure our freedom and to liberate others from oppression. 

Monday we commenced the week by setting up our mock Berlin Wall on campus and passing out fliers. I started out skeptical about the affect we could have on campus, but all that changed with one student. 

A young man came up to us asking about the wall and we handed him a poster about "Progressive Social Movements" leading to the death of millions of people and he walked away. Five minutes later he came back and commented on the information we were passing out. He said, "it is very sad to see my country at the top of this list. In China, people worship Mao, but I didn't realize he killed so many people." 

He went on to describe how Mao Zedong is essentially deified in China, comparing their current view on Mao to how the Germans once felt about Hitler. He thanked us for educating him and other students. 

Together, we can show others what freedom is and why it must be preserved. 

Jolie Stuart-Davis is a member of Penn State Young Americans for Freedom.