Thank you for giving me an opportunity to recollect my unforgettable three days there. I visited Pensacola in early March 2014. From the moment we were greeted by Gulf Coast Diplomacy at the airport, everything in Pensacola was fantastic to me. My most cherished memory is when I was conferred an honorary citizenship of Pensacola....
Thank you for this opportunity. There is no doubt that it was a wonderful experience, especially this family who organized the little party in Pensacola. An extraordinary couple whose hospitality still holds a special place in my memory. IVLP has been an extraordinary experience which has given me the opportunity to discover the kindness and...
In August, we held our monthly youth diplomats meeting. We had a big house of more than 40 participants! We were joined by some Russian teens. We started our meeting with our tradition of playing Kahoot. This is a great way to enhance our knowledge more on current global events and keep us up to...
On Saturday, March 6th, we held our monthly Youth Diplomats Zoom meeting. We started our meeting with a game of Kahoot on current events and voting for the next members of the Leadership Committee. The Kahoot was a fun ice breaker that allowed us to gain critical knowledge on current global news and events. This...
As everything began to shut down a year ago, a wave started to rise on social media with the hashtag #ExchangesMatter. It seemed as it became apparent that in-person exchanges were at least temporarily a thing of the past. Many became afraid that people would forget the importance of exchanges. Yet, 18 months later, we...
How much fun, learning, and reflection time is possible in two weeks? Teen participants with the U.S. Department of State’s Youth Ambassadors exchange found out when they traveled to Northwest Florida. For two weeks in January & February 2020, students from Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua plunged into discussions, site visits, cultural activities, and...
In June 2019, Gulf Coast Diplomacy hosted a visitor from Mozambique who works to combat human trafficking. He was in the region as a participant of the International Visitor Leadership Program, an exchange program of the U.S. Department of State which works to connect young leaders from around the world with their professional counterparts in...
Jereme Johnson is a program assistant at the Escambia County 4-H Youth Development, a local branch of the 4-H organization. This non-profit develops citizenship, leadership, responsibility, and life skills in youth through experiential learning programs and a positive youth development approach. He and his organization are always ready to receive international visitors and explore the...
Seven visitors from Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, and Tajikistan came to Pensacola in June 2019 to discover how small-to-medium-sized communities handle cyberbullying. The project’s title was 21st Century Changemakers: Be Best: Strategies for Combating Cyberbullying. World Learning coordinated the national itinerary. Several weekend activities introduced the group to our community. Gulf Coast Diplomacy...
What do Cognitive Big Data Systems, Inc. and the U.S. Department of State have in common? International exchange, of course! Though people do not often think of science and technology as a large part of learning about other cultures, it is nevertheless a hugely important part of the exchanges we do at Gulf Coast Diplomacy....
