Meet the 2011 Young Ambassadors

Rebecca is a well-traveled, bubbly Briton who has lived in England her whole life. She enjoys lacrosse, designs her own clothing, and wants to learn how to make quality organic shampoo.

Alisha is one of a family of nine who has lived in Michigan her whole life, but has traveled to such exotic places as Germany, the Netherlands and Detroit. She is an accomplished seamstress, a regular runner, and she loves wearing cowboy boots with sundresses.

Autumn, from Michigan, is an immensely positive person who is always counting her blessings and her freckles. Among her friends, she is known for her formidable arsenal of puns and for her enthusiastic singing: she has not yet discovered a way to harmonize the two.

Tarah is a ‘Hello Kitty’ aficionado from North Carolina, where she once won a broccoli-eating contest at her middle school. Her hobbies include soccer, swimming, and eating breakfast cereal for as many meals as possible.

Tasha has lived mostly in California and Michigan, where over time she amassed several unique pets including tarantulas, hissing cockroaches, a wild crow, and a leech (but she has a phobia of beehives). She dances in parking lots during thunderstorms and jumps at the chance to hula hoop.

Elise is an accomplished cook who loves eating a delicious hummus-and-egg sandwich with strawberry jam. Perfectly at home in any 1950s environment, she enjoys organizing, reading, and entertaining the idea of owning a cow.

Dan is a Chicago native who loves anything about food, whether its construction or its consumption. He is an avid athlete and enjoys activities that range from a strenuous 18 holes of golf to a relaxing 32 miles of triathlon.

Josh is an Illinois native who has a soft spot for Tex-Mex restaurants, and a penchant for sweet-talking their crews into employee discounts. His towering, slim frame makes it challenging to find clothes, but serves him well in his favorite sport of basketball, where he dominates under the basket.

Douglas is a Texas-born, Georgia-bred Southern boy who once held the pullup record for his high school. He loves to entertain (whether on the stage or off), fly airplanes, or work on his Ford Mustang, but he dislikes tomatoes and being asked to dance by girls.

Steve is a penny-whistle-playing piano technician from New Zealand who has plied his trade everywhere from concert halls to front porches in the Australian Outback. Of Scottish ancestry, he enjoys their traditional sport of golf; he also likes pungent Indian food and singing on the tractor.

Jessie is an audio-visual junkie who has lived in Louisiana all his life; in fact, he was 15 before he saw snow. He is passionate about becoming ambidextrous, playing piano (with both hands), and nurturing his attraction to magnets.

James, Australian-born and America-raised, is a connoisseur of anything guitar-related. In his spare time, you can usually find him sitting someplace quiet drinking a good cup of coffee, confabulating (his favorite word) with a few of his friends.

Crew

Sarah (choreographer) is a Young Ambassador alumna who hails from Washington but loves to travel, collecting beach sand from each of her destinations. She loves old musicals, prefers savory food to sweet, and starts a new hobby about every two weeks.

Ryan (stage assistant) is a Canadian from Saskatchewan who, atypically, does not like hockey. In his free time, he can usually be found either polishing his photography skills or his collection of pocket watches—while sometimes wearing Goofy slippers.

Whitney (costume assistant), African-Irish Kentuckian, is an American who is learning to speak Hebrew and nursing an inordinate desire to visit India. Her abiding passions aside from Bollywood movies include reading, writing and Post-it notes.