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Diplomacy Council brings international students to Pensacola

December 23, 2014
/ Ben Sheffler
/ community-dashboard

Pensacola has a rich history and cultural diversity to offer international visitors and that's one of the reasons Jena Melançon founded the non-profit Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council in 2008. The Council, one of more than 90 in the U.S., runs an International Visitor Leadership Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, enabling 5,000 internationals to visit the country each year. In January, the Council will host five international groups from Pakistan, Southeast Asia, France, Israel and Palestine, and high school students from Brazil. Twice a year, the Council brings in students from around the world to stay in Pensacola in host homes for 10 days, with students from Iraq, Bolivia and Peru having visited Pensacola this year. Melançon, executive director of the Council, says the Brazil program, called Youth Ambassadors Brazil, was the first of its kind started by the U.S., and it's very competitive. "It's so prestigious in Brazil that the national entrance exam to get into university actually has a question on it that says 'What is the name of the program that takes Brazilian high school students into the United States?'" she says. Applicants have to write an essay, take an oral and written exam in English and finalists appear in front of a review panel. About 16,000 students applied to Youth Ambassadors Brazil, 50 were accepted and 10 are coming to Pensacola. Five of the students have been placed with host families, but the others still need a home. Students visit schools, attend workshops, meet with city government officials and volunteer, among other things. "[The Brazil] program focuses on diversity and volunteerism, so we'll do a lot of volunteerism activities and a lot of leadership development activities," Melançon says. Volunteering in particular is a new concept for many of the students, according to Melançon. "There are a lot of countries in the world that don’t even have a word for volunteerism," she says. "It's a part of American culture that some of our international visitors, when they come to us, it surprises them." The U.S. Department of State is also offering a fully-funded reverse exchange Youth Ambassadors Program for American high school students. Announced shortly before Thanksgiving, the deadline to apply is Jan. 10, with the option of traveling to Argentina, Chile or Brazil. The professionals of the International Visitors Leadership Program stay in Pensacola for 2-3 business days, but they are in America for three weeks, visiting different regions of the country to experience its diversity. The groups coming in January from Pakistan and Asia will focus on leadership, the group from France will focus on crisis management and the group from Israel will focus on small business development. "Every group has a different topic," Melançon says. "So one group might look at the arts, another one might look at local policing and another might look at university administration." In November, eight journalists from Southeast Asia, two attorneys from Cambodia and China, and 25 business people from 25 different countries were in Pensacola. The Council averages three delegations a month. The International Visitor Leadership program began in 1940 to combat Nazi propaganda efforts in South America, according to Melançon. Melançon worked with the New Orleans Diplomacy Council and saw a need for one in Pensacola. She then asked her friend and former vice-president of the National Council for International Visitors (now called Global Ties U.S.), what a successful start would be. "He said 'Jena, if after two years you're getting one delegation a month, you will be a success," she says. "By December 2009, so not even a full year, we'd already gotten 20 delegations in town." For more information on becoming a host family, contact Melançon at 850-377-3176, and visit www.wlyap.tumblr.com/apply to apply to the U.S. Youth Ambassadors Program.

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Diplomacy Council brings international students to Pensacola

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