Guatemalan Indigenous Leaders Visit to the U.S.

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Participants standing in front of the U.S. Capitol

¡Bienvenidos! This was the word used all over DC as flashes of sky blue, deep indigo, and rich red were seen in the Senate, by the Monuments, in the House of Representatives, and even a local Subway. Seeing traditionally dressed Guatemalan Indigenous Leaders standing in line at Subway was definitely a site for onlookers, but it was a part of the experience that these leaders signed up for.     There was a moment when Officer of Press and Community Affairs, Municipality of Santo Tomas, Julio David Diaz Chay, discussed what December 21st 2012 really meant to the Mayan people which to the Western belief marked the...

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Be confident about being a leader

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Global Leadership at Meridian

“Be confident about being a leader”. This is how Sunny, a Chinese high school student visiting the U.S. through a visitor program, described her biggest learning from the leadership training implemented by Meridian International Center in February 2015.   Such a comment tells me that this young woman is already a leader and I won’t be surprised to see her becoming a global leader in the next decade and a great pride for her country and parents. In fact, as facilitator of this training, Sunny, Harry and other students were a tremendous inspiration for me.   Training high school...

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Educating the Next Generation of Global Leaders: #MeridianSummit

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Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives remarks to the Meridian Global Leadership Summit. Photo Credit: Joyce Boghosian

I am so incredibly lucky. I was born in America in a prosperous time to parents that not only valued my education, but had the time, resources, and capacity to be fully engaged. They sacrificed to send me to private schools, staying up until all my homework was done and explaining difficult concepts until they wanted to pull their hair out. But they did so I would have as many opportunities as possible. They poured their all into my education and in turn, gave me an impassioned outlook on my future. That is why I cannot get Deputy Secretary...

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Jesse Clark’s Final Thoughts on His Experience in the U.S. Congress – Republic of Korea National Assembly Exchange

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Jesse Clark in front of a sign noting the distance between Pyeongyang and Seoul at the DMZ

Hey Everyone! It was a very exciting final week of the 2015 U.S. Congress – Republic of Korea National Assembly Exchange Program, and I have more stories than I could possibly put in a single blog post. I am in Chicago right now for a quick layover; so far I’ve taken a two-hour flight from Seoul to Tokyo, had a three-hour layover, and then hopped on a 12-hour flight from Tokyo to Chicago. I still have a two-hour flight back to Bangor, and then a two-hour drive back to the glorious town of Calais, Maine.  For those keeping score at...

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