Thanks to Chief Sealth International High School social-studies teacher Noah Zeichner for the report and photos:

A group of 12 Brazilian high school students and 1 teacher visited Chief Sealth today for a few hours. They ate lunch in the cafeteria with ASB student leaders and went on campus tours. They attended my Global Leadership class where they worked in small groups with CSI students. They are here as part of the Youth Ambassadors Program for South America. Two Chief Sealth students and one teacher have participated in the program in past years and two CSI students have applied to travel to Brazil this summer.

The Youth Ambassadors (YA) Program is a three-week exchange for high school youth (ages 15-18) and adult educators focused on civic education, community service, and youth leadership development. Subthemes include human rights, multiculturalism, social justice, and social transformation.

Participants engage in a variety of activities such as workshops on leadership and service, community site visits, interactive training, presentations, visits to high schools, local cultural activities, homestays, civic education programming in Washington, D.C. or the capital city of the partner country, and more.

Follow-on activities with the participants are an integral part of the program, as the students apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired by planning service projects in their home communities.

Program Goals, as defined by the Department of State:
. Promote mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of South America;
. Prepare youth leaders to become responsible citizens and contributing members of their communities;
. Influence the attitudes of the leaders of a new generation; and
. Foster relationships among youth from different ethnic, racial, religious, and national groups and create hemispheric networks of youth leaders, both within the participating countries and internationally.

Read more about the program here.