History came to life for students in one classroom on the North Side of Chicago Monday when someone they'd studied walked in.
Mikhael Gorbachev was the substitute teacher at Frederick Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center Monday, while visiting Chicago with a group of this year's Nobel Peace Prize winners for the first gathering of its kind hosted in the United States, the New York Times reports.
Other laureates in town for the Nobel World Summit stopped at Chicago schools as well, after students had prepared for the visits with "special human rights curriculum" developed by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. They also studied the accomplishments of this year's honorees, according to the Times.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel was with Gorbachev and fellow laureate Sean Penn, an actor and activist, at Von Steuben Monday morning, where he explained the significance of hosting the World Summit in the Second City, according to ABC Chicago.
“We had 14 schools just this morning with Nobel Laureates or organizations all participating in social studies classes about the world, about peace, about social injustice, about making a difference,” said Emanuel. “And we’re going to have a curriculum that stays with the school when this summit wraps up on Wednesday. It will be here for future generations.”
While in the classroom Monday, Gorbachev took the opportunity to make public his opinions about President Obama's bid for reelection, recalling Obama's race in 2008.
The former Soviet leader encouraged the country to pay attention to international opinions of America and its actions, but said that his opinion of the current President is favorable, and that he will support his campaign for another term, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.