Five students and a teacher from Dumaguete City have been chosen as this year’s delegates to the Southeast Asia Youth Leadership Program of the US Embassy.{{more}}
The six delegates are scheduled to leave for the United States in April this year, and will undertake a program that includes engagements in activities of US high schools, community organizations, and youth groups in different US locations.
For the student category, the five participants are: Abigail Cabonita and Iphraim Cabristante (Silliman University), Kathleen Dawn Young Ricardo (St. Paul University), Jesmar Lawanan (Foundation University), and Albertus Nikolae Cena (FU High School).
A teacher from St. Paul University, Ryan Jay Riconalla, was selected for the adult category.
This year’s delegates were personally interviewed by US Embassy Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer Joseph Tordella, and Thomas Jefferson Information Center Deputy Director Pong Aureus during their visit to Silliman on Feb. 3 to 5. On the same visit, they donated books to the Dumaguete City public library, and a local public high school.
“They were all chosen among a competitive group of fellow adult and youth leaders in Dumaguete because of their excellent leadership initiative and potential,” Aureus explained in an e-mail.
Dumaguete was selected as this year’s recipient of the SEAYLP for the presence of the American Studies Resource Center at the Robert B. and Metta J. Silliman Library. Described by Tordella as “the window to America”, the ASRC holds a rich collection of printed and multimedia materials about the American way of life.
The ASRC is open to the public for free. (with a report from Raffy Duhaylungsod/SPUD)
