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  • Meet Team Germany 2022


    We are from Thuringia, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, and Baden-Wuerttemberg and represent youth councils from Dusseldorf, Friedrichshafen, Hattingen, Heikendorf, Jena, Metzingen, Mosbach, Reutlingen, Stuttgart, Weida, and Weinstadt.

  • Meet Team USA 2022

    Meet Team USA 2022


    We are from Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Iowa and represent youth councils and similar youth leadership comittees from Bloomfield, Boyertown, Council Bluffs, Millersville, Pennsburg, Schuylkill, Sinking Spring, and Twin Valley.

  • Ambassadors in Sneakers


    Ambassadors in Sneakers is a four-week educational program that brings together youth councils and similar youth leadership committees from Germany and the U.S.

    While travelling together in both counrtries, the young leaders learn about places and institutions that are significant for the development of and struggle for human rights. They meet activists, media representatives and politicians and learn from them, as well as from and with each other.

Interkulturelle Projekte

A Young Leaders’ Transatlantic Summer Academy on Human Rights


Ambassadors in Sneakers 2022

12 students each from Germany and the United States spent four exciting weeks together, learning about human rights, youth participation, transatlantic relations, and intercultural communication in both countries.

In the summer of 2022, the participants were members of youth councils, youth parliaments, and youth advisory boards from Pennsylvania, MIchigan, Iowa, Thuringia, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, and Baden-Wuerttemberg. 

 

 

The Trips

Part 1: Saarbrücken & Berlin (Saturday June 4, 2022 - Saturday June 18, 2022)
Part 2: Reading, PA & Washington, D.C. (Saturday July 30, 2022 - Saturday August 13, 2022)

 

 

Program Reports & Pictures

What did the Ambassadors in Sneakers do this year? Who did they meet during their trips? And what made this year's program unique? Check out the program report and program schedule from 2022!

    

German Ambassador Emily Haber, Washington DC

Meeting at CSIS, Washington DC

Saarbrücken

     

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann, Berlin

 

 

Media coverage

Reading Eagle, August 5, 2022: "Reading is a stop for program for German and American students to learn about human rights"

Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, September 1, 2022: "Von der Jugendgemeinderätin zur Botschafterin in Turnschuhen"

 

 

 

Feedback from Participants

It was so much more than I expected! I did not expect such high-profile speakers, I did not expect to be challenged so much, I did not expect to find such good friends. (participant)

 

I will definitely get more involved in more human rights spaces and use my new found knowledge to educate those around me. After this trip I joined a human rights club at my university. (participant)

 

No matter if you are more on the social or more on the educational side of things, there will be room and space for you. The group dynamic is incredible and people are really making an effort to make you feel comfortable. You learn an incredible amount of things, you grow personally, you make wonderful friends. (participant)

 

It’s an unforgettable experience. From everything you do, the places you go, to the amazing people you meet. Truly life changing.  (participant)

 

Words are not enough to describe the emotions attached to these four weeks. Words are not enough to describe the enormous impact that AiS had on me. Words are not enough to thank you. Thank you for the chance you gave me. For the time you invested in me. For the smile I now have. Now and forever when thinking about Ambassadors in Sneakers.  (participant)

 

Having immersed myself in German news about America, I thought I was well informed about the US. However, I did not understand why exactly things worked or did not work the way they did in America. Unfortunately, this is something that history class does not focus on. I only slowly understood when meeting and asking Americans during the program. I learned a lot about the cultural divide and how we have been working to overcome it.  Every single speaker had their unique message and information that was new to me. (participant)

 

 

Feedback from Speakers

Die Zeit mit euch und den Ambassadors war für mich wirklich besonders und bereichernd, und ich habe euch als Team und die Teilnehmenden wirklich ins Herz geschlossen. (Justin Hayo, activist, educator, and founder of Change Network e.V., guest speaker)

 

It was a pleasure speaking to them and hearing their takes on our sustainability and climate efforts, both as an organization and as a community. I was very impressed by the students’ questions – especially the difficult ones. It is important for everyone, especially our next generation faced with so many global challenges - to understand the very different cultural and political landscapes that shape how we see, interpret, and react to challenge. (Kevin Lugo, Energy and Environment Program Officer, Berks County Community Foundation, guest speaker)

 

Thanks for bringing your group to CSIS. They had thoughtful questions and it's clear they are getting a lot out of your program. (Morgan Higman, Energy Security and Climate Change Program, 
Center for Strategic and International Studies, guest speaker)

 

 

 

Sponsors and partners

"Ambassadors in Sneakers - A Young Leaders' Transatlantic Summer Academy on Human Rights" was developed by the German-American Institute Tuebingen (dai). It is very generously supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany, which is funded by the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi)., as well as by a great number of other supporters. Our partners in 2022 included:

 

If you want to support the "Ambassadors in Sneakers", too, get in touch with us!

Unsere Förderer

Contact us!

Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Tübingen
Karlstr. 3 · 72072 Tübingen
Tel. 07071-795 26-0 · Fax 07071-795 26-26
mail [at] dai-tuebingen.de · www.dai-tuebingen.de

 

Visit us!

Bibliothek: Di - Fr: 13.00 - 18.00, Sa: 11.00 - 14.00 Uhr
Montags geschlossen
Sekretariat: Di - Fr: 9:00 - 18.00 Uhr
Montags geschlossen

 
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