LIMA — Two current ambassadors spoke with Lima City Schools students via a Zoom call Wednesday morning.
Students in the Closing The Achievement Gap program at North Middle School, West Middle School and Lima Senior listened and questioned the two ambassadors, who work in the U.S> State Department.
Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, a 30-year diplomat, is the chief diversity and inclusion officer for the Department of State and was the longest-serving U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Malta.
Ambassador Dereck J. Hogan, a career member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service, currently serves as principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Prior to this, he served as the Ambassador to the U.S. Embassy in Moldova and, before that, as the deputy executive secretary of the U.S. Department of State. Hogan also previously served as the deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Abercrombie-Winstanley shared that being a U.S. ambassador is being the representative of the American people to a nation sometimes in issue abroad.
“The most important thing we do is make friends for America,” she said. “That’s the short version of what it is, whether it is dealing with political affairs, economic affairs, taking care of American citizens and people wanting to visit the United States.”
Hogan added, “I just want to share with you that the role of an ambassador sounds super complicated, but quite frankly, we really just build bridges.”
Both ambassadors encouraged the students to explore opportunities with the many organizations to experience life outside the United States in one of 194 foreign countries on the planet.
After sharing a number of their experiences on foreign soils, the ambassadors opened the call for questions by the students.
The Zoom call was initiated by Carlton McLellan, owner of the Vibe Coffeehouse and Café, who is a founder and senior associate of an organization in South Africa and acted as a moderator.
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