Going to a Broadway show. Exploring the treasures of the Smithsonian museums. Wading in the Atlantic Ocean. Doing some tax-free Delaware shopping.

These are just a few of the activities 15 Bosnian teens enjoyed during a month-long stay in Delaware this spring, hosted by UD

4-H. But the teens, who were participating in the Bosnian Youth Leadership Program, also had a busy schedule of events that the average tourist doesn’t experience.

They met with Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, both of Delaware; talked politics with Ralph Begleiter, former CNN correspondent and current UD Rosenberg Professor of Communication; volunteered at the Milford (Del.) Food Bank; and toured urban 4-H after-school sites.

“The purpose of the Bosnia Youth Leadership Program is to train the next generation of leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina as it continues to recover from its 1990s war,” state 4-H educator Mark Manno said. “The month’s activities were designed to help the students understand the responsibilities of citizens in a democracy and the most effective ways that they can make a difference in their own communities back in Bosnia.”

The youth leadership program is sponsored and funded by the U.S. State Department. Since 1999, it has been held each year in various locations across the nation. This was the first time a Delaware organization was selected to organize and execute the program.

Manno said a key part of the program involves teaching the teens how to implement a service project once when they return home. The group, who traveled with three Bosnian teachers, was ethnically diverse and included Serbians, Croatians and Bosniaks.