U.S. Mission Speaker Program – April 2018

Public Affairs Officer Philip Beekman in Lipnica.

We visited eight Slovenian schools in April!

For the first time in a few years, we visited OŠ Staneta Žagarja in Lipnica again. About 90 middle school students were interested in U.S. diplomat’s activities and the comparison between Slovene and U.S. culture. Public Affairs Officer Philip Beekman also talked about the modern day issue of information overload and how difficult it is to find relevant information. The middle school students also had the opportunity to ask many questions.

Economic Officer dr. William Don Baker introduced the U.S. economy to more than 100 students of High School of Economics in Celje. Dr. Baker presented on U.S. GDP growth, the inflation rate, trade, the federal budget surplus and U.S.-Slovenian trade. Since some of the students present were future security technicians, the U.S. Marine Security Guard Sergeant Eddie Montano also talked about security.

“Congress and the President: An Invitation to Conflict” was a title of presentation delivered by Economic Officer dr. William Don Baker and the international students of U.S. politics at the Faculty of Administration.

The Embassy’s Management Officer Valerie Martin and U.S. Marine Security Guard Sergeant Eddie Montano visited middle school students at OŠ Mirana Jarca in Ljubljana to talk about U.S. geography and answer many questions on several different topics.

Assistant Public Affairs Officer Izaak Martin visited Gimnazija Lava from Celje students at EU Parliamentarian Lojze Peterle’s Office in Ljubljana. He introduced the students various Embassy activities and discussed immigration and diversity in the United States.  He also answered students’ questions.

Public Affairs Officer Philip Beekman joined the Faculty of Social Sciences students of communication for a discussion about emerging trends in public diplomacy and communications, and led a discussion with students on media and communications issues including: new social media and privacy, fact checking and disinformation, agenda-driven communications, objective media, press freedom, diplomacy and influencing foreign audiences.

Political and Economic Counselor Laura Anderson enjoyed a visit at Gimnazija Slovenske Konjice where she gave a presentation about diversity in the United States. She talked about religious, racial and national pluralism in the United States. Immigration has always been the key to America’s diversity and today the number of foreign-born Americans is higher than ever. The students asked a lot of interesting questions about current political and economic affairs. They were also interested in studying in the U.S.
We also had a chance to see how the sequoia tree that Ambassador Hartley donated to the Gymnasia Slovenske Konjice for Earth Day in 2015 is growing.

The Embassy’s Information Management Officer Patricia Rainey and U.S. Marine Security Guard Sergeant Eddie Montano visited OŠ Prežihov Voranc in Jesenice.
Patricia prepared a presentation about the importance of education for the students. She explained that education not only gives us knowledge and helps us build opinions but also makes us see the world in different ways. The video, “Unbelievable Shocking Cultural Norms from Around The World” further illustrated her points. Embracing diversity was another topic that Patricia touched upon in the presentation. Sgt. Eddie Montano entertained about 40 students with interesting stories from his professional life.