During the fall of 2021, I was a program facilitator for Gulf Coast Diplomacy’s Youth Ambassador program. This program included youth leaders from all over the Americas, including El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, and the United States. In the new normal of virtual programming, these young leaders brought their enthusiasm and young professionalism in tow. They enjoyed bonding in their “family” groups throughout the weeks, which we used to create a sense of community and engage students with those from different cultures. The young leaders interacted with the local Pensacola community through guest speakers and musical guests. Each week had specific themes to engage the Youth Ambassadors with a topic that could facilitate cross-cultural exchange and understanding.
The first theme was “My Afternoon,” where the young leaders shared how their typical days looked. Guest speaker Dayhane and Youth Diplomats Lorelei, Kaitlyn, and Andrea joined from downtown Pensacola to give the youth a look at what American teenagers typically do in our area. The site visit to Ferdinand Plaza gave the participants an immersive visual and interactive look into everyday life in our city.
When prompted to share their typical afternoon activities, many participants enjoyed exchanging what they liked to do in their free time. “Whenever I am not busy with homework, I read, take care of my plants, exercise, listen to podcasts/music, help my siblings/classmates with homework, or prepare lessons for my Sunday School class.”
Following this activity, we had Youth Ambassadors outline their specific goals for the program and what takeaways they would like to experience by the end of their exchange. Many youth leaders commented on their hopes for personal growth, leadership development, and the opportunity to make new friends!
Gulf Coast Diplomacy had the honor of having Pensacola City Council Member Sherri Myers as a guest speaker to share aspects of local politics and community engagement with the youth leaders. I felt that this experience was very impactful in shedding light on becoming involved in one’s community and gave participants a forum to ask the Council Member questions on how they could improve their civic activism.
As with all cultures, music and food are at the forefront of what connects us and allows us to celebrate life together. We incorporated musical guest Michael Lockwood into our programming to share American bluegrass, folk, and jazz music. This interaction allowed Youth Ambassadors to begin engaging and sharing the music of their own cultures with one another and created an opportunity for participants to find new musical genres to explore. Our next session followed the theme “Tastes of the World.” We were also grateful to Dale Melançon (no relation to our executive director) for showing us how to prepare gumbo, a traditional Cajun food! This interaction facilitated the discussion of our cultural dishes and their importance. Youth ambassadors shared recipes on their weekly Padlet posts to expand our flavor pallets and share their favorite dishes, “The nacatamal is my country’s favorite food. There’s just something very special about it.”
One of my favorite activities from this program was the student cultural presentations, where students from each country collaborated to present aspects of their culture and heritage. Each group impressed us with their public speaking skills and passion for sharing their cultures. They collaborated to create audio, visual, and written presentations that exemplified aspects of their country that they valued most.
Dale Melançon and Alyx Levesque joined our group for our goodbye party to end our sessions. Their musical performances warmed the hearts of all of our ambassadors and were a favorite among the programming. I enjoyed seeing the students reflect on how this experience impacted them and how music moved them to express their gratitude and joy in getting the chance to make new connections.
As a final send-off, we shared the virtual wishes the Youth Ambassadors submitted during our programming to realign their goals and hopes for the future. Many expressed their dreams to travel one day again and share their experiences. “In my lifetime, I want to be able to fulfill all my dreams and goals such as traveling, continuing my studies, having a profession, and getting to know myself better.”
I am so grateful for the opportunity to have worked with such an inspiring group of young leaders, and I wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
– Eden Davenport, Youth Diplomat alumna & Lesley University student
The Youth Ambassadors program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. Government. It is administered by World Learning, in partnership with CIED Georgetown University. Georgetown is the partner implementing this exchange and works with partner organizations like Gulf Coast Diplomacy in the United States and abroad.
