Thoughts on GYLP from our Small Group Facilitator, Lucas Tuttle

Lucas Tuttle is a graduate of San Diego State University with an B.A. in Political Science, and volunteered as a small group facilitator for the San Diego Diplomacy Council’s Global Leadership Youth Program 2024. 

I had the incredible opportunity this summer to help foster the growth of a diverse group of high school students as a Small Group Facilitator with the San Diego Diplomacy Council for their Global Leadership Youth Program. Over each week-long session, the cohort participated in a diplomacy simulation concerning a real-world dilemma, learning from visiting experts on past and current efforts to resolve global issues, and presented group research projects on an urgent international crisis. As an SGF, I helped participants establish vital connections with each other and promoted the development of useful negotiating skills, project management skills, and a passionate interest in resolving world problems. Exposure to weighty, and in some cases, emotionally taxing topics was perfectly balanced with the inspirational and educational guest speakers, whose expertise and wisdom had an instrumentally positive impact on the program. 

Along with the amazing speakers and impressive group projects from the participants, the diplomacy simulations were remarkably engaging for the students. Negotiating an end to the historical Darfur conflict in Week 1, resolving a water dispute amidst climate catastrophe during our Sustainability week, and a last-minute emergency plenary to salvage a seemingly doomed summit in our last session on Humanitarian Law reflected a unique creativity and flexibility from the cohort, even in the face of seemingly irreconcilable goals. The tireless dedication of our program instructors and my fellow small group facilitators ensured concise yet effective teaching of relevant subjects for the week, and perhaps more importantly, that the participants could contribute to a shared learning experience in a safe, inclusive space. During this experience, I learned radical and fascinating new perspective from the speakers and students, helping foster my own passion for creating a better world, recognizing our interconnected global systems and the need for tolerant, open-minded, and common-interest diplomacy. 

Lucas Tuttle 

GLYP Small Group Facilitator and Program Intern at the San Diego Diplomacy Council