North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Transformation
May 29, 2015
ACT Youth Ambassadors Give Back to the Local Community
Fantastic. Having fun. Amazing.
NORFOLK, Va. – To mark the end of the 2014-2015 Youth Ambassador Programme, the Norfolk NATO Festival and NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) held an awards ceremony on May 28 at the Virginia Arts Festival Robin Hixon Theater.
“The Youth Ambassador Programme, as part of the Norfolk NATO Festival education programme, is a fantastic way for the NATO community to reciprocate their warm and generous reception into the Hampton Roads Community,” said Trish Carrier, Executive Director of the Norfolk NATO Festival. “By volunteering to help so many great organisations, the Youth Ambassadors learn life skills that will stay with them for many years to come, while having fun and making a lot of international friends along the way.”
The programme is open to children of any ACT staff member, ranging in ages from 14 to 18 years old. This year, the program started with 41 Youth ambassadors, from 12 of the 28 NATO nations represented in Hampton Roads with the United Kingdom and the Netherlands having the most representation with five ambassadors each.
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Over the last eight months, the Ambassadors have collectively served more than 1,070 hours, volunteering at more than 40 different Hampton Roads locations, including…the Virginia Beach Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals [non-human living creatures only].
The 2014-2015 Youth Ambassador of the Year was Bethany Lloyd, originally from Bristol, England and a student at Norfolk Academy. Bethany volunteered for 105 documented hours throughout the Youth Ambassador Programme, winning her an all-expenses paid trip to Orange County California to attend Operation Smile’s International Student Leadership Conference, kindly donated by a Norfolk NATO Festival Board Member.
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The Norfolk NATO Festival teamed up with ACT’s Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Dave Jones as part of ACT’s Community Outreach programme.
The winner of the Program will also be recognised with a plaque, which will be displayed in the ACT Headquarters.
“It was just amazing to help out the community which has given so much to me and I just wanted to help give back,” said Bethany.
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