On a day the world was tracking the presidential election in the world’s oldest democracy, the US consul general in Calcutta, Kathy Giles-Diaz, told an audience of school students that getting to vote was a “powerful thing” and voting had to be taken as a great “responsibility”.

The newly appointed consul general addressed a roomful of first-generation learners, many of whom are on the threshold of adulthood.

“The important thing about democracy and both our systems (in the US and India), in both of our elections, is that they are free and fair and people go to the polls and get to exercise the right to choose,” said Giles-Diaz.

“That’s what happens in a democracy. It is a very powerful thing, getting to vote. Please exercise your right to vote when you become eligible to vote.... Voting is a privilege and it is something that we have to take as a responsibility as well,” she said.

Giles-Diaz was at St Stephen’s School, tucked away in the narrow Phears Lane off BB Ganguly Street, accompanied by her husband Miguel Diaz. She spent almost two hours going around the small school, interacting with children in their classrooms and addressing the senior girls and boys.

Giles-Diaz told thestudents to ask questionsbecause that is how one learns more.

Young people like them make her hopeful, they have the “power to change things”, said the mother of two children aged 19 and 16.

“When I look at the world, sometimes it is so easy to get discouraged. We have climate change, we have people fighting in the world, there is poverty, and there are people who do not have enough to eat.... What makes me hopeful in the world is young people.... I want you to know that you have the power to change, so do what you are passionate about and make the change you want to make,” she said.

A diplomat who has travelled to several parts of the world in her official capacity, Giles-Diaz said her interest in knowing different cultures was ignited when she was 16.

She took up an exchange programme in Japan for six months and went to live with a Japanese family though she did not know their spoken language then.

She told the students to get to know people from different countries and backgrounds because it makes one “a better person”.

The diplomat took questions from the students who wanted to know about the US school curriculum and her inspiration to become a diplomat.

In high school, her favourite subjects were biology and chemistry, and she had always thought she wanted to become “a doctor”, she said.

It was her English teacher who helped her to write and communicate in a different way, Giles-Diaz said. That ability, her experience in Japan and her keenness to know people made her “shift a bit” and get interested in studying diplomacy.

Giles-Diaz, who assumed office in August, is impressed by the people of Calcutta, she said. Especially, the city’s interest to learn more.

“I particularly loved Durga Puja and it was amazing to see the pandals. I have found the people warm,welcoming, and friendly,” she said, while also underlining her love for Bengali mishti and the Calcutta biryani.

Students from St Stephen’s School have been attending programmes at the American Center regularly.

“This visit by the US consul general was an opportunity for our students and teachers to interact with her, identify common grounds, build aspirations and endorse a support that has been continuing with the American Center for many years now,” said ImranZaki, honorary secretary,St Stephen’s School.