Former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev speaks about democracy in Trenton.
By: Melissa Hayes
It’s not every day that students get to see a former world leader speak.
But, on April 18, eight South Brunswick High School students got a chance to do just that when they traveled to Trenton to see former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev.
"It’s a rare opportunity to see someone like him speak," senior Joe Randall said.
Mr. Gorbachev was in town to celebrate the 20th anniversary of "perestroika" the Russian program of economic, political and social restructuring that transformed the country with a fund-raiser for the TrenMos Fund.
The TrenMos Fund is a nonprofit organization that emerged when a delegation of Trenton-area business and political leaders traveled to Moscow, forming a sister-city relationship.
The group promotes New Jersey-Russian relations, along with the Princeton Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Mercer County Chamber of Commerce.
The South Brunswick students who attended the Sovereign Bank Arena event are members of the school’s history club, the Dead Presidents Society.
Tickets to the fund-raiser were provided by Assemblyman Bill Baroni, whose district includes South Brunswick. The students, all of whom have taken AP history classes and have an interest in politics, jumped at the chance to hear Mr. Gorbachev speak.
"I really enjoy politics and talking about it," senior Ritika Kaushal said. "It was really interesting to be there, just being there and seeing him on stage."
The students in the Dead Presidents Society work on fund-raisers throughout the year so that they can travel to various historic locations, including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City.
Seeing Mr. Gorbachev speak added to the long list of unforgettable moments club members have experienced.
The students said Mr. Gorbachev focused his speech on his policies and subtly addressed his stance on the United States involvement in Iraq, saying that a democracy can’t be put in place over night.
Senior Priya Chadha, the activities coordinator, said Mr. Gorbachev spoke about democracy and how it doesn’t come easily for all countries.
She said Mr. Gorbachev said that each democracy needs to be unique to the country it is governing and that democracy is not something that happens over night. He said it took democracy in the United States 200 years to come about, she said.
The students said one of the hardest things to get used to was hearing Mr. Gorbachev and his translator speak at the same time.
The students said the group’s Treasurer, Nina Chachiyan, a senior, had the hardest time because she understands Russian, and hearing the interpreter made it difficult to follow. She did however get a joke before everyone else because she understood the translation.
Although the students couldn’t remember Mr. Gorbachev’s joke exactly, they recalled Mr. Gorbachev describing President Ronald Reagan to his staff as a dinosaur after their first meeting and President Reagan calling him a die-hard Bolshevik to his staff.
Club president Samantha Obnial, a senior, was still in awe Monday.
"It was cool to see somebody like that on stage," she said.

