Delegates interacted with youth & mentors in a variety of settings ranging from a three hour hands-on television production class at Digital Media Education to the classrooms of Montclair Elementary School. They and their U.S. Department of State translators attended the 82nd Anniversary & Court of Honor of Boy Scout Troop 10 at First Baptist Church, met with Cub Scout Pack 5, and visited with the Boy Scout Gulf Coast Council.
Their calendar was packed. At Pensacola Catholic High School they explored the use of technology in the classroom and interacted with a snowbound Canadian technology professor via the web. At a meeting at Actigraph, teens shared their volunteer work with Chain Reaction. The delegates enjoyed a lunch at The Fish House with Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council board member Dr. Jack Kichler, Boy Scout District Chairperson Paul Entrekin, and Pensacola Council Members Megan Pratt & Larry Johnson. The informal seating was perfect for their questions on city structure & governance.
The group was particularly touched by the work of STRIDE, a mentoring program addressing at-risk youth. Per their request, our Council forwarded to them detailed notes of the program’s structure before they left the country.
At an evening reception given in their honor at Jackson's, the group received Honorary Citizenship from the City of Pensacola. Sam Hall also gave special recognition to their interpreter from Iraq who served alongside Florida National Guardsmen in Baghdad and the delegates met adult leaders with the Girl Scouts.
Their final appointment was with the Troop 10 boys. Many of the scouts were working towards their Eagle-required merit badge, Citizenship in the World. The Saudis proved to be able teachers as they answered all the boys’ queries while challenging the scouts with their own.
