On April 21st, more than 50 high school students from William Turner, Michael Krop and Miami Carol City High Schools gathered at Miami-Dade College North Campus to participate in the annual Sister Cities Youth Summit for Citizen Diplomacy.  Now in its third year, the Youth Summit brings high-school students chosen to participate to the college campus for a morning-long session, and asks the students to consider the unique challenges of promoting global peace through citizen diplomacy.

The theme of this year's Summit was "Citizen Diplomacy in a Time of Global Economic Challenge", and focused on the opportunities for promoting cultural understanding at a time when many nations around the world are experiencing severe business and economic conditions.  The keynote speaker was Dr. Michael Lenaghan from the Miami-Dade College Honors College, and students from the Honors College acted as student facilitators for the series of interactive exercises designed to stimulate how students think about their roles and responsibilities in today's global environment.

The Youth Summit is produced jointly by the Miami-Dade County Sister Cities Program, Miami-Dade College, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and the Miami Council for International Visitors.  The spirit of cooperation between these four organizations in bringing the Youth Summit to tomorrow's leaders is an excellent example of working together to promote global understanding through mutual cooperation.