 Good morning. If I could have your attention We are now officially going to start the speaking program Okay, so I Have been speaking with all of you. You have heard me Give you a lot of different Instructions, but now I get to introduce myself. I am a SATA camera And I am the deputy commissioner for policy and strategic initiatives and the chief of staff for the mayor's office for international affairs it is my great honor to welcome you all to Gracie mentioned and I want you to know why we are all here and working so hard and it is because We are here to celebrate you So this program has impacted about 3,500 people young and Educators and we are very proud of it none of our work will be possible without the United Nations the Department of Education the Department of Youth and Community Development and The United Nations Foundation. So can we give those partners a round of applause? Okay, and if you look to the back you will see some of the representatives from those partners. We have SWAD We have Troy Wolf from the United Nations Foundation, and then we have Vincenzo from the United Nations Okay, let's thank them again It is my great pleasure to welcome one of my colleagues He is our commissioner Edward Murmelstein Ed is very passionate about this program He rolls up his sleeve You probably didn't even know when you met him that he was the commissioner because he loves youth and he loves Empowering them. So Ed, please join us and give us a few words. All right, so Before before I get started hold on a second. Let's do this. All right everybody smile All right. Now we now we can get started So good morning to everyone our distinguished guests and our honorees especially the students and educators of New York City's junior ambassador program My name is Edward Murmelstein as I sata mentioned and I am the commissioner of international affairs It's a pleasure and a great honor to welcome you to Gracie mansion and to see you in person Thank you for being with us today to celebrate the learning Engagement and activism of our New York City's junior ambassadors program our city's future and That of the world depends on how we prepare the next generation My office runs New York City junior ambassador program to make sure young people are equipped to engage locally and globally This year alone 30 students and educators participated in this immersive experience Your group exemplifies our vision for New York City's youth as You engaged with a program you proved what many of us know to be true Young people can make a difference and when they are given the resources and space to take action They get things done throughout the program You were exposed to moments that led to this day. I Had the great pleasure of attending Some of these activities and I was so proud to witness your readiness You asked great and sign and sometimes very tough questions of our guests Questions that showed understanding of your topics This knowledge is also reflected in the incredible projects you developed this year You showed that young people are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but that you are also the leaders of now Before I end I want to thank your educators for guiding you through this journey. I also want to thank Our wonderful partners and sponsors without whom this program would not be possible Our gratitude to ambassadors and the senior UN officials who traveled across the New York City to visit this the classrooms and Who join us today. Thank you all very much sincere gratitude to all of our city colleagues that are staffing this event and Work behind the scenes to make your time here special and finally Thank you to Christy St. Veil Whose efforts makes this program a great great success Once again, thank you all for inspiring us through your actions in your classroom and in your communities Congratulations to New York City's junior ambassadors. I'm handing it over back to my boss Thank you so much Ed and shout outs to you too. You do a lot to make this program possible so if I were to ask you all how many people know Christy St. Veil has and have Interacted with her or have worked with her. I'm pretty sure that all the hands in this room will go up And that's because Christy is the powerhouse behind New York City junior ambassadors Running this program is not easy I know because I started this program and then handed it over to Christy It takes someone who's special someone who's dedicated to New York City and to young people and Someone who understands the importance of global and local action and That is Christy St. Veil So I'm going to have us show her so much love when she comes on this stage Because she's also going to help us with the certificate ceremony. Are we ready to show love to Christy St. Veil? Alright Christy come up here That was quite an introduction. Thank you. I sata. Thank you team And thank you all of you for joining us today. I Am so proud to be here amongst all of you and I want to give a big Congratulations to our 10 New York City schools for this year. Give yourselves a round of applause While I enjoyed working with all of you, this wouldn't be possible without the 10 educators Part of your cohort. So please give a round of applause for all the educators They are the powerhouse of the program and now without further ado I don't want to take too much time because the spotlight belongs to you all today It is my honor to introduce and to congratulate with certificates to our 10 schools We have our first school from the Bronx icon charter school for We have our second school from the Bronx icon charter school six Thank you so much and now And now we go over to Brooklyn Yeah, I'm from Brooklyn too We have IS 45 K The horse e-green school. That's right. Show your school some love next. We have JHS 223 the Montauk school Next we have MS 442 the school for innovation We now have MS 577 Consolier preparatory school and I would like to introduce Liberty Avenue Middle School Over to Queens now. We have L. Isan Academy We want to take the time to acknowledge a school in Queens that is not with us today But let's give a round of applause in spirit. We have PS IS 116 the William C. Hughley school and last but certainly not least certainly not least We have Village Academy Middle School That's great. I'm gonna call all the schools to come up on stage, please so we can take a quick photo Let's give them a round of applause. These are our junior ambassadors Thank you so much and congratulations to all of you. You all deserve it I'm happy to reintroduce our emcee for the evening. I sat to Kamara Can we hear it one more time for your schools? Can we hear it two more times for you? And then can we hear it three times for your teachers? That's right. All right guys I we're gonna take a quick one minute break and then we're gonna come back with a very special guest and Two amazing speakers that you just have to hear. Okay, so give us two minute break. Thank you Okay, are we energized? I don't believe you. Are we energized? All right, now I believe you guys, okay We're gonna restart the program and I want to be able to say congratulations once again to all of the schools You know, I have had the pleasure of sitting in meeting rooms with the next person that I'm going to introduce And in each of these meetings I always hear him speak about the youth and speak about the fact that we have to empower young people and Ensure that they get cultural Experiences He doesn't just talk about it though. He also does something about it. And that's something is like today Opening up Gracie and making sure that you all get to feel special and to have this experience Can you guess who I'm talking about? Who? Okay, are we ready to welcome him? I don't think you're ready. Are we ready to welcome the mayor? Okay, it's my pleasure to introduce the hundredth and tenth mayor of New York City Eric Adams Thank you. Thank you Okay, so I have I have a question. Okay Can someone just give me their definition of the word ambassador What does it mean? What does it mean to be an ambassador? Yes So then stand stand stand up and say it loud like you're in the playground Can we get a mic or portable mic? Hold on one more cuz I want to hear you. I want to hear you Yo, she's gonna bring we're gonna bring your mic. There you are Now the mic is to answer the question not to rap Go ahead Okay, anyone else yes behind you behind you a person to Change make a change in their country and other countries help make a change for the better Love it anyone else anyone else Come on. Don't be shy anyone else Anyone else We're over here over here. Let's get the mic over there Give give give those who answered at hand. Let's show them support Okay. All right It means to like show leadership as like basically to show people like you're a leader and not a follower All right. All right anyone else Anyone else right here up front up up front I think an ambassador is a formal diplomat that goes from one country to another to represent it and discuss problems around the world Wow great great good stuff. Good stuff. So Let me tell you my definition of an ambassador and all of those definitions were amazing or amazing an ambassador to me is a person that Goes into other places and Bring a level of energy and perspective of what they see So others can learn from that. Why is that important? Because everyone stated For the most part when you go to another country Why must we go to another country? Here in New York City We have the largest population of just about every group in other countries We have the largest Ukrainian population the largest Caribbean population the largest Russian speaking population The largest population from the diaspora from Africa the largest South and Central America Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico So why must we go to other countries? Why can't we be ambassadors right here? Why can't we speak to someone if you wear a Yamaha, why can't you be an ambassador of the Jewish community to speak to someone that wears a hijab? Why can't you be someone that is from the Dominican Republic? Why can't you be the ambassador to speak to someone from the Russian speaking community? So you don't have to leave America to be an ambassador Because the conflicts that are happening across the globe are happening right here in our country and What I want from you is to not allow people to say to you I must get on a plane and go somewhere else to educate and bring peace I can do it right on my block because many of you live on blocks Where there are people from different countries and we may not even know their name Many of us go to schools Where there are students in our classroom that come from different countries? And we don't ever sit down and ask them a question about who are they? What is it like to be Ukrainian? What is it like to be from South Africa? What is it like to be from Pakistan? What is it like to go to a church a mosque a synagogue? So being an ambassador means right where we are We are Identifying our culture and helping others learn their culture so the skills You have acquired by going through this amazing program You can't hold on to them until you travel across seas. You must use them while you're here in America America is the United Nations of the globe That's very important for you to know the challenges. We are facing right now We have to solve them right here We have an increase in anti-semitism violence Young people are drawing swastikas without even knowing the meaning of them and how much it hurt people We have young people who wear hijabs Who are just as every other young person, but they're treated differently because we don't educate the beauty of our diversity you have young people who are coming from Haiti and They are being treated differently because they come from Haiti instead of learning the rich history of Haiti Every country you look at You will see a rich history that if we learn from it, it would help us Let me give you an example my family is from Alabama. My mother is part of Cherokee Indians every Often I would go down to Alabama and visit my family. They have a large farm one day I was there and We were moving hay from one side of the farm to the next The tractor broke down and what I did I took a motorcycle and I hooked it up to the hay Barrels that pulled it across and when I finished the job I said to myself What did you see that before I? Saw it in Vietnam. They don't have a lot of cars. They have something called tuk-tuk They hook the cars up the motorcycles to what carries passengers and supplies Because I visited Vietnam and because I had Vietnamese friends it allowed me to solve a problem So if we want to solve global problems, we must have global Relationships the cultures you know Those of you who are from different countries in order for us to solve global problems We have to sit down together and have global friendships That's what this ambassador program is about and so when you leave here today Do something that's uncomfortable? Meet someone new Don't only meet someone that looks like you don't only meet someone that speaks the same language as you Walk up to someone that is totally different from you and say I'm an ambassador From the Dominican Republic. I want to know who you are. I want to learn something new about you So I can continue to learn something new about me If you leave here today and you don't know anyone new if you only know people who look like you Talk like you walk like you eat the same food do the same thing Listen to the same music that is a Shakespearean tragedy and that is not an ambassador And ambassador is an explorer and ambassador goes beyond Their common ground and what they know they seek to learn different things so they can bring about bring about Peace and prosperity and what they do you have a job of bringing about peace and prosperity to this country What is a reflection of the entire globe? That's who you are. You are an ambassador for humankind You an ambassador for peace you an ambassador here in America and An ambassador for global connections when you do that Then you can say to everyone that instead of allowing the conflicts You are the body of students and young people That would ensure we live in a country and a globe that would accept our differences as our secret weapon That is our power. Our power is because we're different and adults have messed up the planet You have to save you you save it by Not being disagreeable but being open to disagree so we can talk to each other and Talking to each other is not waiting for someone to finish a sentence so you can say how wrong they are It is seeking to Understand so you could be understood It's not about arguing with each other It's enjoying each other You are the ambassadors of the future this program is so important It is allowing us to think differently When I was your age, I sat home and I wrote on the back of my graduation picture. I listed 100 countries that I wanted to visit and I checked off those countries each time I went there and Each trip changed me more and more and it allowed me to be comfortable in this city In this city that is as diverse as it is. I became mayor Because I developed the relationship with the Chinese community going to China six times. I Developed relationship with the Russian-speaking community by going to Moscow. I Developed relationship by going to South and Central America visiting the Caribbean visiting Greece Visiting all of these countries and so when I needed all of these countries to support me To become the mayor They respected the fact that I respected their culture America is the only country that you can still hold on to the love of your mother country and Love your adopted country. We don't ask you to abandon your home country That's why we say African-American Jewish-American Polish-American Pakistani-Yemenese German-Irish Italian you never abandoned who you are and your birthplace to become a member of this country That's what's our joy. That's our secret weapon So as the mayor of the city of New York I'm so happy to be in the room with all of these ambassadors That's going to help us not only build relationships in other countries But build relationship in our country charity starts where? At home, let's get it right at home. Thank you so much and congratulations to you all So, let me so we want to honor To number one I Want to recognize one of our teachers Michelle Shacconi one of our great teachers give us some love give a nice ad and One of our student ambassadors from Williamsburg Brooklyn Monty Jackson How was that for you guys? Now after a speech like that. How was that for you guys? Are you inspired? Okay Now how many of you believe that educators are heroes raise your hand Yeah, all hands should be up because educators are heroes and we have one of them here Michelle Shacconi Well, that's a tough speech to follow with Good morning mayor Adams commissioner Mermel steam officials from the United Nations School leaders fellow educators Parents and our reason for being here our junior ambassadors My name is Michelle Shacconi and I am an educator with the icon charter school network We are a network of seven schools located in the great borough of the Bronx Our network of schools consists of seven New York State recognition schools and four are national blue ribbon schools Today, I am here representing my school icon charter school six Along with our sister icon charter school for who has partnered with the junior ambassadors since 2017 Icon charter school for had the honor of welcoming the ambassador of Nigeria his Excellency to Johnny Muhammad one day on behalf of Superintendent Edward Tom Deputy Superintendent Ulysses of Aska's my principal mr. Jason Cartagena and Principal Michelle Allen of icon for we want to express how thrilled we all are to be here as An educator it has always been my goal that my students not only view themselves as members of our school community But view themselves as important contributors to their local community our great city our nation and the global community The junior ambassadors program was a perfect opportunity to deepen this goal further than ever before The icon charter school network for pillars of transformative education Guides us to adopt a holistic approach to teaching and learning that addresses the academic Social and emotional needs of our students the student-centered learning experience is defined through Individualized learning environments that empower icon students to take ownership of their education It is our responsibility as educators to make sure that our children are prepared for the world They are entering when they leave our classrooms and this experience has inspired our icon students and Educators to meet the challenges of that larger world through this strategic partnership with junior ambassadors icon students will graduate equipped with the skills knowledge and personal confidence to participate successfully in the most rigorous academic environments and Demonstrate a sense of personal responsibility as global citizens After surveying the United Nations sustainable development goals My students decided to focus on goal to which is zero hunger at the start of our research We learned about our borough of the Bronx having the highest prevalence of food insecurities We learned that the Bronx is the hungriest borough of New York City a Staggering one out of every four Bronx residents cannot afford the food. They need on a regular basis as We extended our study of hunger nationally We learned that the United States one of the richest countries in the world has 42 million people who go hungry That is one out of every eight Americans at that 42 million 13 million our children That means one out of every six school children in the United States goes hungry on a daily basis These numbers shocked my students and myself Our junior ambassadors wanted to know what was being done to solve this problem and what they could do themselves The passion this research project unleash was nothing like I have seen in my 13 years of teaching Students were discussing their research everywhere in the cafeteria in the classrooms on the bus and in the halls As they learned more about the challenge of food insecurity our students behavior changed They became more mindful of the food they were wasting One of my junior ambassadors Chris Molly Paulino commented I go home to a full refrigerator and never think twice about it to me having plenty of water and food is no big deal But through this program I've learned that there are a lot of people in this world for whom having a full fridge would be a dream come true With their eyes open to the problem of hunger our junior ambassadors thought globally, but acted locally They developed a plan to address food insecurities in our community They conducted a food drive to replenish the pantries and kitchens of our neediest residents This was their impassioned and meaningful effort towards achieving zero hunger in the midst of this project Our school was graced with a visit from ambassador a jeeman his excellency of Ghana He brought in my students world view by discussing our project sustainable development goal in the context of Ghana Many of our students and junior ambassadors are of guinean heritage making this experience all the more memorable They were so proud to have someone who looks like them and comes from where they come from Holding such a position of power be in arms reach Having this representation allowed our students to see themselves reflected in the leaders that surround them Which is vital to nurturing their passion to pursue bigger goals in their futures All of our students felt important and valued because ambassador a jeeman took the time to come to our school He took the time to meet with them and answer all of their questions Another one of my junior ambassadors Marilee Jimenez said it was incredible to meet someone who has the power to make real change in the world In the words of harry a Tubman every great dream begins with a dreamer Always remember you have within you the strength the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world I want to leave you with the belief that any one of you here today Could be the dreamer that begins to change that will transform the world Through this program my students have come to realize that they too have the power to make real change The junior ambassadors program has been pivotal for our students And we hope to continue to provide our students with youth youth civic engagement activities To empower them to develop their skills and talents to discuss issues and address problems both in the classroom and in the real world Through this our students voices are heard and validated as agents of change I would like to thank the mayor's office of international affairs the United Nations for organizing this remarkable Educational experience. Thank you That was incredible mr. Coney, thank you so much for sharing your experience I've heard a lot about our next speaker and some of you may know him as your classmate. I Am talking about Lamont Jackson jr Okay, he's very famous. So let's hear about his experience Monty the floor is yours Good morning Mr.. Mayor guests and my fellow junior ambassadors My name is Lamont Jackson jr. But people call me by my nickname Monty I am a seventh grader at middle school 577 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I Like to first thank the mayor's office for international affairs for accepting our school into our program this year I would also like to thank our school Sorry, I would also like to thank my principal miss mazullo and my vice principal miss Stevenson Especially my teachers mr. Polanco and miss Montgomery for their support and for really bringing this program to life at my school. I Am a proud african-american with hints of Caribbean and Native American descent I am a young kid from Brooklyn who enjoys debate politics sports and video games My experience as a junior ambassador was a little bit different from the others I wasn't it wasn't your typical experience I joined late to the game and already missed on a series of virtual trips with United United Nations projects building with students and introduction to the UN With this inconvenience, I felt overwhelmed and lost But I was determined to find a way for me personally to contribute to this project. I Was inspired by meetings with UN experts in our classroom conversations I felt a responsibility to leave a unique twist to our project on poverty because I Like so many of junior ambassadors at MS 577 have something important to say Thankfully my teacher mr. Polanco Recognized this and spoke with me He understood my passion and let me use my creativity to contribute to our school's book for our net for our project Our class decided to focus on United States United Nations sustainable development goals Our borough every borough had their own group that represented its impact to poverty I was the group that performed a case study of Brooklyn and I drew the BQ the BQE Formatted ideas for drawing an artwork in the project hmm, I Spent the year learning about sustainable development goals and poverty with different people and local leaders at both the city and the UN I concluded that poverty comes in different ways and affects us on the globe on the local and global level I Learned about the similarities and differences of poverty and what it can look like here in the in the New York City But also in places like Kenya for example, I Understand now that poverty is a complex and more than just people having not enough money I want to join the good fight to end poverty and Personally, I think that I can make a change within my community with my voice my art and my passion. I Went to change this type of world and start with saying that we can't just wait You must really take action and use our research to go out and change the world together One of the biggest highlights of the program besides the speech I'm giving right now alongside the mayor was meeting ambassador Kamani of Kenya My experience of meeting him at my school was learning about his story his journey into the world of diplomacy He encouraged us that it is important to stand firm in what you believe in and to take bets on yourself To take any opportunity that comes your way With the experience of learning from many types of people from different backgrounds I am inspired to become someone of power to influence perspectives. I think I'd like to become president someday But for now, I will start by running for school president so I can gain leadership experience Becoming a New York City junior ambassador Allowed opportunity to learn about myself my image my neighborhood and especially the world around me As a person with a good understanding of my background I feel more grateful and self-aware as a young person in New York City Being very comfortable with myself and stepping into leadership roles like this I feel I am not alone especially at this crucial moment in time I feel more welcome to be confident in what I like I feel more confident that what we have our voices heard and That adults want to listen. I feel like I belong to my fellow New York City junior ambassadors I believe that this program is important to the youth and help all of us Develop the confidence and skills we need to speak to our leaders It is a way for the youth to step up and show the power of the minds of this generation I Think that it's very important to have these opportunities because life could go very different for a lot of us To explain I did if I decided to not join within this program I would have never had this wonderful opportunity to be here to speak in front of all of you right now. I Want to close on this this experience is the important Hmm is important to view because it feels like an opportunity to change the world Right from your classroom That was just the beginning We are still a work in progress and we will still continue to work on the global citizens We are meant to be I would like to thank everyone for listening to what I have to say and To follow your dreams and to take any possible opportunities It is worth it. Thank you Thank you all so much. Can we give all our speakers a round of applause again? Can we give mayor Adams another round of applause? Can we give you a round of applause? This concludes our program. Thank you all so much. Enjoy the rest of the event