A group of eight Youth Ambassadors and two mentors from the United States visited the U.S. embassy in Santiago yesterday and met with Ambassador Michael Hammer. This is the second visit of U.S. high school students to Chile as part of the Youth Ambassadors Program. The students come from various regions across the United States and will visit Chile and Argentina.
The Youth Ambassadors Program with Argentina & Chile is funded by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassies in Argentina & Chile, and administered by World Learning.
The program is a three week youth leadership exchange for eight U.S. teenagers ages 15-17 and two adult mentors. The goal of the program is to develop a cadre of young adults in Argentina, Chile and the United States who have a strong sense of civic responsibility, a commitment to community development, and an awareness of current and global issues. The program also aims to foster strong interpersonal and leadership skills, a willingness to build relationships among youth from different ethnic, religious, and national groups, and to promote mutual understanding, respect and collaboration between the United States and South America. Participants are required to implement follow-on activities upon their return home that will help them stay in touch with each other and integrate what they have learned into their day-to-day lives. An important goal of the program is that the student leaders, now empowered, will train other student leaders through student-led community service projects.
The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs – Youth Programs Division; the U.S. Embassy in Chile; the U.S. Embassy in Argentina; World Learning; and the University of Virginia – Center for Politics, World Affairs Council of Dallas/Ft. Worth and the International Visitors Council of Kansas City.
