Youth Ambassadors Launch Community Service Project

February 3, 2011

Youth Ambassadors with officials of the government of Neuquen, and representatives from the school and the Embassy.

On February 3, 2011 a group of 6 Youth Ambassadors gathered in Cuyín Manzano, Prov. of Neuquén, to inaugurate a recreational center at the only school of the town.  The high school students who were part of the Youth Ambassador Program in 2010 designed and launched a community service project sponsored by Partners of the Americas and the Embassy of the United States. 

The “Play & Learn” project seeks to provide children and their parents with a welcoming environment to stimulate learning and have fun.   The recreation center is divided into different themes: building blocks, music, reading, theater, puzzles, board games and physical activity.  Each of the Youth Ambassadors carried out activities with the children, in the company of the teachers and other participants including the State Secretary of Education, Culture and Sports Jose Ernesto Seguel, the Under Secretary Patricia Ruiz and Boarding School No. 11 Director Gabriel Dirigoni.

Cuyin Manzano is a community of 200 people and only one elementary school, with a about 30 students, ages 5 to 14. Nine children are day-students and the school boards the rest of them from Monday to Friday.

The Youth Ambassadors who participated in this initiative are Sofía Cuadra (Rosario), Franco Mellone (Buenos Aires), Juan Pablo Nora (Mendoza), Shindy Pipke (Misiones), Agustina Recari (Tres Arroyos, Prov. of Buenos Aires), and Matías Rodríguez (Neuquen).

For more information, please visit the project's website