The 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march officially begins Saturday and to commemorate that anniversary, 70 youth ages 18-25 will partake in a National Park Service walking classroom.

The experience will allow young people the chance to retrace the steps marchers took in 1965 while also attending leadership talks, presentations, moments of reflection, a heroes’ breakfast and a final program at the state capitol. The youth had a ceremonial kickoff event Friday night after completing check-in.

“I’m hoping to learn more about what happened here [and] what happened a long time ago,” said Jadareous Davis, a high school senior from Drew, Miss. “I came here to learn something. I’m kind of nervous. I’ve never done anything like this, but I’m [going] to get through it.”

The youth will be camping every night at the Lowndes County Interpretive Center and then bussed back to where they left off the day before.

Youth from all over the country came together Friday night to show their support of the marches and learn more about the history.

“My grandmother actually was the one that suggested that I come down here and do this,” said Josephine Black, a high school student from Simsbury, Ct. “She and her husband participated in some of the anniversary, so they thought that it would be important for me to continue on with that tradition.”

Black said she is looking forward to meeting other people and learning as much as she can during her time in Alabama and taking that information back to her home state to share with her family and friends.

“I really want to be able to go home and tell other people this is my experience and this is what it was like to have to go that distance for something you believe in,” Black said. “I think it’s really exciting to sort of get to learn about the history of it and to also meet other people that are interested in similar things.”

Andrea Catroppa, with the National Park Service, said she is excited to see people from all over the country come together for the march.

“This was all about voting and getting rights, but it was also a unification of people,” Catroppa said. “You had different people from different cultures, different ethnicities, different areas of the country and they all came together for one purpose. It’s kind of a moving thing to be able to watch people … do that [now].”

Catroppa said she hopes the students and the public take away how far society has come and then work to continue that progress.

“Younger people will learn from the past, and start a new path for the future.”