The Youth Ambassadors Program with Canada is a three-week exchange for Canadians to visit the United States.  Conducted in the English language, the program brings together students, ages 15 to 18, and adult mentors from across Canada to promote mutual understanding, increase leadership skills, and position youth to make a difference in their communities. Program themes include civic education, community service, youth leadership, and social inclusion.

The program employs a highly interactive approach through a range of workshops, meetings, and site visits, plus home stays with American families. Through direct engagement with leaders of community, public, and private entities in several program locations, Youth Ambassadors will better understand civic participation and the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy. Upon returning home, Youth Ambassadors will apply what they learned to implement community service projects that meet needs in their own communities, and will be engaged in mentoring, networking, and alumni network initiatives.

The Youth Ambassadors Program with Canada is an intensive program with three segments:
1) Pre-departure orientation in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, from July 17 to 18, 2017.
2) Exchange experience in the United States of America, to include:
a) Plattsburgh, New York, and the Adirondack Park, from July 19 to 30, 2017.
b) Washington, D.C., from July 31 to August 5, 2017.
3) Return home travel by August 6, 2017 followed by implementation of post-exchange community service
activities in Canada, reporting, and alumni engagement.

The Youth Ambassadors Program with Canada delivers an exceptional content-rich educational opportunity – that will result in significantly deeper knowledge and appreciation by Youth Ambassadors of citizen-engaged participatory democracy in the United States, the value of community service activities, and the leadership skills required to undertake successful community service initiatives. An integral element of this program is for Youth Ambassadors to plan and implement a variety of in-country educational activities upon their return to Canada.

The program will cover travel, meal, and accommodation costs associated with exchange participation from
July 17 to August 6, 2017. Participants will provide their own personal spending money. Although participants will have health care benefits during the exchange in the United States, covered medical expenses are subject to limitation, and pre-existing conditions are not covered; participants will also be responsible for the $25 co-pay required for each visit to a doctor’s office in the United States.

Application Timeline: Applications are due Thursday, March 30, 2017. Interviews for highly qualified applicants will take place during April. Acceptance will be issued by May.

Come see Mr Pearce in Workroom 214 for the application form.