Where Are They Now: Ambassador Alum Zach Kiehn

2013 I Want to be an Ambassador! camp
alumnus Zach Kiehn

by Beth Dolinar

Zachary Kiehn is that rare student who mapped out his career path while still in high school. A graduate of Fox Chapel High School, Zach decided early on that he would serve in the United States Navy.

But that is down the road a bit. Zach will first study nuclear engineering—his major at Penn State University. He’s enrolled in Naval ROTC there, with an eye toward following his father and his brothers into the military—dad in the Navy and brother in the Army.

When Zach considers his career choices, he acknowledges how his participation in the Luminari organization played a role.

In 2013, Zach attended the “I Want to be an Ambassador” camp. Although much has happened in his life in the three years since then, he has fond memories of the camp, and recalls how the activities helped to shape his worldview.

“The camp opened my eyes to the different ways people approach life,” he said. “It helped me to understand why people make the decisions they make.”

A highlight of the Ambassador camp is a trip to Washington, D.C., where students meet and interact with real-life diplomats. Zach’s camp visited the Royal Thai, South African and New Zealand embassies.

“It was really cool,” Zack said. “We talked with the interim ambassador for New Zealand. We learned how the work of diplomacy related to us.”

Zach carried what he learned during the camp back to his school, where he served on student government. The key to being an effective leader, he said, is to understand the perspectives of different people, and to find common ground.

Among his favorite camp activities was the Model United Nations, where the students considered the issues in a simulation of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

“We got an experience that most people don’t get,” he said.

In addition to the real-world diplomacy experience, Zach remembers the friends he made. He still keeps in touch with several other teens from the camp.

Did we mention that Zach is just 19? It’s easy to forget that this articulate and bright young man who approaches the world with such maturity and insight is still a teenager.

But, he is, at heart, a teenager.

“The camp was so much fun,” he said.  “And the food was awesome.”


I Want to be an Ambassador! camp 2016 begins June 14 -22. Learn more or register for one of our fun and unique summer camps for teens at www.luminari.org

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Luminari Coordinator, Beth Dolinar brings her talents and experience as a writer, Emmy-award producer, public speaker and deadline driven multi-tasker to our team. She writes a popular column for the Washington "Observer-Reporter." She is a contributing producer of documentary length programming for WQED-TV on a wide range of topics and currently teaches as an adjunct faculty member at Robert Morris University. Beth has a son and a daughter. She is an avid yoga devotee, cyclist and reader. Beth says she types like lightning but reads slowly -- because she likes a really good sentence.