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Monday, November 27, 2017

Youth Leadership Summit 2017

    Lauren Prather participated in the Shinhidaka, Japan student exchange in 2016. She also participated in the Sister Cities International Youth Leadership Summit in 2017.    

                                      
                                          My Experience at the Youth Leadership Summit
             
                       As a kid, I had always felt a magnetic pull to the globe and its vastness. Last summer I was lucky enough to visit Shinhidaka, Japan with the Lexington Sister Cities. A year later I sat on a plane taking a leap of faith once again to participate in the Youth Leadership Summit in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 

                The Summit focused on fish and wildlife sustainability in a global world. We learned that business and the environment are a constant balancing act. With none of us knowing the exact right way to work though the problem of sustainability we met different conservationists who helped us fully understand the issue and different ways of addressing it in a global society.

                Armed with our new-found knowledge we headed in to our State Department based negotiation, where we got placed into random groups. I ended up in the U.N more specifically The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which in my slightly biased mind was the best group. We worked together as a team to negotiate between the groups to come to a fair and rewarding conclusion for each of the parties involved.

                The whole event concluded with a lovely dinner and dance party; where I was able to meet the Sister Cities Kentucky delegation.  We danced late into the night, happily losing our voices. Together we watched how the different delegations participating had bonded, my roommate from the Bahamas and I dancing alongside our friend from Italy. 




                The Summit showed me that a Global mindset starts locally, and being involved in your local Sister Cities is a great way to effect real change in your community. I believe that my experiences with the Sister Cities have already changed me for the better, and I can’t wait to see how they will shape me in the future. 


Giving Tuesday begins tomorrow if you would like to donate to help students like Lauren participate in the student exchange program. 
Please visit our website to learn more and make a donation.


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