U.S., Brazilian students confer on ways to improve the world

Whether you're a student from Brazil or Seattle, it turns out some things are universal: a love of iPods, texting and junk food.

The global youth culture is united on many fronts. But this week, six Brazilian students came to Seattle to share ways they are also different and exchange ideas about how to make improvements in their home cities and states.

The students, who were selected from 3,000 applicants, met Tuesday with the Mayor's Youth Council as part of a whirlwind week that included taking classes at Roosevelt High School, volunteering with Earth Corps and squeezing in a field trip to Dick's hamburger joint. The other 29 students in the program are visiting Bozeman, Mont.; Charlotte, N.C.; Cleveland; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Tulsa, Okla.

"We are here to share our experience and learn and teach at the same time," said Marina Paula Carreira Rolim, 17, from Belem, near the mouth of the Amazon River in northern Brazil. "We have to make some changes (in our country) and realize what things are not working."

The students, who were sponsored here through a joint U.S.- Brazilian embassy effort in conjunction with the World Affairs Council in Seattle, are all engaged in volunteer work in their home cities. They have, among other things, started recycling programs in their schools and taught English and health to younger children in their neighborhoods.

Improving public education and growing concerns about the environment emerged as two primary issues for the youth representing Brazil.

"I see in the U.S. you have very big cars," said Silas de Oliveira Coelho from Juiz de Fora, a city in the southeast region of Brazil. "In Brazil, we use biodiesel and ethanol. We are one of the leaders in renewable energy."

Seattle student Lily Clifton, a junior at Nathan Hale High School who is on the Mayor's Youth Council, said the youth of Seattle shared many of the same worries, particularly surrounding the future of the environment and climate change. She shared with the Brazilian students how Seattle students work together on the council to suggest changes to the Mayor's Office, many of which are eventually implemented, she said.

Whether the concerns are about gang violence, global warming or the fallout of domestic violence, the youth council solicits ideas from students and tries to come up with realistic solutions. In the past, for example, the youth council advocated for and successfully restored funding for some after-school youth programs, advocated for a one-stop emergency number for victims of domestic violence and put in their ideas about reshaping Seattle Center and its aging Fun Forest.

The Brazilian students seemed especially impressed by the power of the youth voice in Seattle.

"This program is a great chance for us to meet other leaders of our country," said Sao Paulo resident Clarissa Carmona, 18, of the exchange. "Alone, we don't have much power, but we all have been energized. Now we can talk to our authorities, so we can improve things in Brazil. Each one of us is going to try to make things better."