Youth Leadership Program Participants Hit the Ground Running in Oregon

Over the weekend, 18 students and three teachers from Orasje, Bijeljina, and Bihac arrived in Salem, Oregon to take part in an intensive month-long program on democracy, civic activism, and debate. At Willamette University, the students will take special courses on civic leadership. They’ll also stay with host families, visit Oregon’s courts, join a local NGO for a community service project, and close out their stay in Oregon with a speech and debate festival. Before they return home, they will spend a week in Washington, D.C. There, they’ll spend time with American high school students and visit the U.S. Capitol building and other national landmarks. It’s certainly not all work, though. Even though they’ve been in the U.S. for only a few days, the group has already had a chance to catch the Portland Trail Blazers in action.

I’m proud that the Youth Leadership Program (YLP) started right here in Bosnia and Herzegovina 12 years ago. Our homegrown project was so successful the Department of State used it as a model for programs that today bring students from as far away as Kenya, Mongolia, Colombia. 


I’ve had a chance to sit down with this year’s group of participants, and I can honestly say that they’re keeping that great tradition alive. Although the U.S. portion of their program started this weekend, their real work started two weeks ago, when they came to Sarajevo to meet for the first time and to lay the foundations for the rest of their trip. They visited Sarajevo’s religious structures, and students from each religion explained their beliefs and traditions to their peers. In many cases, students had never had a chance to ask questions from someone from another religion. They also had to come up with a joint presentation about Bosnia and Herzegovina, which they will present to high school students in Oregon and Washington, D.C. They asked me some tough questions—I wouldn’t be surprised if the group includes some future journalists.

Often when we think about these exchange programs, we think mainly of the benefit that it has for the participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but these programs are also incredibly important for the people they meet in the U.S. Many Americans don’t know much about Bosnia and Herzegovina. This program brings Bosnia and Herzegovina to them in the form of these smart, talented young people who are ready to tell the world about their home.

This year’s participants are: From Bijeljina, the students Petar Sofrenic, Sandra Djokic, Ivana Vicanovic, Nikola Beslic, Boro Milovanovic, Stefan Rajkovic, and their teacher Valentina Vidakovic; from Orasje, the students  Ammar Hadzimujic, Ines Dzebic, Ivana Nedic, Neven Zivkovic, Janja Leovac, Ana Orsolic, and their teacher Janja Mikolic; and from Bihac, the students Jasmin Muhamedagic, Lejla Jusic, Arijana Djemaili, Alimin Keranovic, Medina Smaijic, Emina Kusuran, and their teacher Adnan Mujakic.

Their schools, communities, and parents should be proud of them. We at the Embassy certainly are. The Youth Leadership Program exemplifies the best kind of cooperation between the U.S. Embassy and the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Instead of imposing solutions from without, this program gives these already exceptional young people a chance to learn new skills and hone their leadership qualities so that they themselves can shape the future of their country.”

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