The Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council hosted a large group of Foreign Service Nationals during the month of June. These individuals act as liaisons between the embassies and the media in their respective countries. The group consisted of 25 international visitors from Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Georgia, Ghana, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Madagascar, Moldova, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia, Romania, Taiwan, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan.
On their first day in town, the Maren Deweese, President of the Pensacola City Council, and Jim Hizer, President of the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, met with the group for a presentation on the city and a special gift of honorary citizenship with the city of Pensacola.
The group then traveled to the University of West Florida to speak with Pat Crawford, executive director of the WUWF Public Radio Station, a station which has been in service for over 25 years and which covers a wide variety of local, national, and international programming. Dr. Bruce Swain, professor and head of the journalism program at UWF, also met with the delegation for a walking tour of the journalism classroom and labs. During this appointment, students from the journalism program met with the international visitors.
Following their time at UWF, the group toured to Historic Pensacola Village for better understanding of Pensacola’s culture and early economy.
The second day of the program began with a visit to the National Naval Aviation Museum which allowed the visitors to gain more knowledge of the United States and to tour one of the world’s largest aviation museums. Next, they visited the Pensacola News Journal where Kevin Doyle, the president and publisher, and Richard Schneider, the executive editor, interacted with the group and answered their questions about local journalism and the use of new media.
Despite the threat of rain, the final appointment for the group, a volunteer activity with the teenagers of CHAIN Reaction and with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, took place along the shoreline of downtown Pensacola. We would like to thank Amy Baldwin, the Ecosystem Restoration Program Manager, who organized this volunteer activity that gave the group the opportunity to work alongside some of the younger members of the community and Amy’s staff members who helped with the actual project. It was definitely a unique experience!
Thank you to everyone who met with these guests and welcomed them to our community!
