Three Vernon high school students will represent Vernon in the Youth Ambassador Program: Trilateral North America this summer. Meranda Silva, Anna Anderson and Tanner Lorenson will visit Vernon’s sister city, Modesto, California, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. to meet with students from the United States and Mexico focusing on the theme of environment and poverty. They will do a community outreach project when they return from the three-week trip in July and August.
“I’m really excited to be able to learn more about these issues, how to address the problems, not just to be aware of them,” said Anderson, a Grade 10 Seaton Secondary student.
Lorenson, a Grade 9 VSS student said, “I’m excited to learn about environment and poverty issues in other countries.”
Silva, a Grade 11 Clarence Fulton student, said, “This will be a great new experience and a chance to learn new skills.”
The students will be accompanied by chaperone VSS teacher Rolf Hirschkorn.
The students were eligible to participate in the program because of the Sister City association with Modesto.
Brenda Brannon, vice-president of the Modesto Sister Cities board was in Vernon this week to meet the students and the Vernon Sister City Committee, and to help the students prepare for the trip and the conferences.
“We are happy to have the students from Vernon join us as part of this incredible program,” she said.
The Youth Ambassador Program is a U.S. Department of State grant program implemented by Sister Cities International.
