Youth Ambassadors Program inspires a future career in diplomacy

August 6, 2025

By Abby Henson

For Brayan Weelkly Prendigan, one of the best parts about participating in the Youth Ambassadors program was spending time with his host family.

“Getting to know my host family and feeling how they did their best to make me feel a part of them was extraordinary,” said Weelkly Prendigan. “I learned a lot from my host family. They shared their culture and traditions with me.”

It is no surprise that Weelkly Prendigan put bonding with his host family at the top of his takeaway list. When asked why he originally applied to Youth Ambassadors, a cultural exchange program for youth from the U.S. and across the Western Hemisphere, he said he thought it would be a “great opportunity to grow, learn, and connect with people from different cultures.”

“I learned about political, social, historical, and cultural topics. I would like to become a diplomat or work in cultural diplomacy to make positive global change and support people who need more opportunities.”

In the summer of 2023, Weelkly Prendigan, who is finishing his senior year of high school in Limón, Costa Rica, spent three weeks with the Youth Ambassadors Program in Kalamazoo, MI.

“One of the most important lessons I learned from the program was about the value of sharing and connecting with cultures different from mine,” he said. “I discovered the beauty of learning about how people express themselves through language, food, art, and traditions—and how meaningful it is to share my own culture as well.”

Weelkly Prendigan, a musician, said music was a special way he made connections with others while on the program. His host father, an orchestra conductor, introduced him to new technical aspects of orchestral music, and Weelkly Prendigan also had the opportunity to play with the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra.

“I am a musician, and meeting people from another country with the same interests was enriching. I was able to share the Afro-Caribbean Calypso genre with them, as they were not used to other rhythms,” he said.

Playing music also proved to be a language lesson for both Weelkly Prendigan and his host brother, Theo. “He was the most excited about my arrival because he was able to practice his Spanish. When we played [music], we spoke a kind of Spanglish, and I felt like we were exchanging our experiences and cultures.”

All these moments throughout his time with Youth Ambassadors created a powerful impact that inspired Weelkly Prendigan’s future plans.

“I learned about political, social, historical, and cultural topics. This opened my eyes and inspired me to study international relations in the future. I would like to become a diplomat or work in cultural diplomacy to make positive global change and support people who need more opportunities.”

Would Weelkly Prendigan recommend the Youth Ambassadors Program to other students? Absolutely. But he believes that the program comes with a responsibility—to share the lessons he learned with other youth and work to make change in his hometown and the world.

“Being a Youth Ambassador means representing your community anywhere in the world. However, more than just being a representative, it’s a responsibility that involves serving as a role model, someone who inspires and influences others,” he said. “I believe that young people are not only the future — we are also the present, and we can be changemakers today.”

World Learning has been implementing Youth Ambassadors, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, since 2011. The three-week exchange program aims to instill a strong sense of civic responsibility and community development in youth from the U.S. and from across the Western Hemisphere.

Interested in applying to be a Youth Ambassador? Click here to read what Brayan has to share about the application process and tips for building a strong application!