The Tribune

WASHINGTON, DC – Four student Youth Ambassadors from Grand Bahama visited the Bahamas Embassy in Washington DC yesterday, prior to returning to the Bahamas following participation in a remarkable programme sponsored by the BoldLeaders organisation.

Gabrielle Moss of Bishop Michael Eldon High School, Alliqueka Capron of Lucaya International School, Aaliyah Vilburn of St Paul’s Methodist College and Kamaal Bartlett of Tabernacle Baptist Academy discussed the benefits gained from their participation in the programme with Dr Eugene Newry, Ambassador-Designate to the United States; Consul General to Washington, DC Paulette Zonicle; and Deputy Chief of Mission Chet Neymour.

They were accompanied by Guidance Counsellor Georgette Thompson, an adult participant from Grand Bahama; Charlene Perryman, a student participant from Grenada; and Ellen Cosgrove, a staff member from BoldLeaders.

“Basically, in this programme we were able to communicate with people of other countries and develop better leadership skills,” said Gabrielle Moss, the daughter of Marco City MP Gregory Moss.

Noting that the programme is sponsored by the US State Department for Youth Ambassadors, Kamaal Bartlett said on their visit to the State Department “all the different countries from the Caribbean had to come up with security and safety issues in their home countries.”

He said the issues the Bahamians came up with were “broken down into three topics” – environmental security, cultural security and economic security.

He added that they also discussed how Bahamian culture has been greatly influenced by America and how young Bahamians “tend to know more about the American lifestyle.”

BoldLeaders staff member Cosgrove said that for the first week of the programme, all the participants were in Colorado, and about half of them stayed in Denver while the remainder came to Washington.

Last week Thursday, all participants assembled in Washington and visited the State Department as a group Friday morning.

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, BoldLeaders is a Social Profit 501(c)3 organisation “dedicated to providing leadership development and training services for young people and adults all over the world,” according to its website.

“Our highly experienced trainers and educators have served people, organisations and communities in Cambodia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germa ny, Hungary, Kenya, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey, and the United States,” the website states. “We facilitate local youth groups for large international organisations, cities, towns, and local schools. We train mentors and teachers and design curriculum.

“We even train trainers to work with teens. We consult with numerous government, nonprofit, education and business organisations and provide an exciting place 
for interns to put their knowledge and skills to practice.”