6,845 Student Participants over the 10 Years of the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program

Happy 10th Anniversary!

Reuniting with an Exchange Student and/or Host Family from your Past

Have you ever reunited with an exchange student you hosted or a family that hosted you while you were an exchange student or studied abroad?  What was that experience like for you?  Please leave a comment with details below!

I have reunited a few times over the years with my host families from Rosenheim, Germany.  I was fortunate enough to be an exchange student twice during high/seconday school for a month during the summers after my sophompre (2nd) and senior (4th) years of high school.  I stayed with two different families during these exchange experiences and on my second exchange I was able to visit my first host family.  During my junior (3rd) year of studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire I studied abroad for a semester in Valladolid, Spain (my wife and I met on this program!) and after my stidies I backpacked Europe and stayed with my second host family again for about 4 or 5 days and visited my first host family again as well.  I have remained very close friends with my second host brother (he was actually an exchange student at my high school the year before my summer stay with him as our high schools have had an exchnage program for the past 20 years and you can read a brief history of this exchange program here).  During the fall of 2008 my good friend Christian came to visit me and my family in Chicago for three weeks and it was so great to reconnect with him in person.  We even made it up to Milwaukee to visit one of our good friends from high school who participated with me on the same two exchanges (see photo above).  The following year, in late summer 2009, Christian returned to visit and stay with us again for three weeks but this time he brought his wife and two sons!  It was great meeitng his family and my two older children frequently refer to their visit and playing with Christian's children.  I look forward to the next time our paths cross in person.  I think my family and I owe him a visit to Rosenheim!

Christian and I have stayed in touch and communicted frequently over the past 23 years via letters and post cards from our various travels and then via e-mail and now via Facebook but it was really great to see him in person again!

Do you have a story to share?

Photo credit:  http://davidcomp.wordpress.com/

Video of the Week - African Student Exchange Program

For this video of the week I found this video about the Youth Exchange and Study Program (YES) that highlights three young high school students from Africa including a young Muslim a student from Kenya who is living with a Jewish host family to be of interest.  I'm a big fan of high school level exchange programs (having participated two times on my high school's exchange program with a high school in Rosenheim, Germany) and I plan to most more about this level of exchange in the coming months to IHEC Blog.

Video of the Week – Host a Foreign Exchange Student PSA

For this video of the week I selected this PSA from www.HostStudents.org.  This PSA is part of the “Host Exchange Students” campaign.  Here is a more detailed description of this campaign that I’m quoting from the HostStudents YouTube Channel:

“Working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State and the youth exchange community, the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET) is pleased to announce the launch of a joint public service announcement campaign: "Host Exchange Students." The campaign encourages American families and schools to get involved in citizen diplomacy by opening their communities to foreign exchange students.”

If you are interested hosting a foreign exchange student or know of someone who would be interested please visit http://www.hoststudents.org/

Is it a Good Thing to Limit the Number of Foreign Exchange Students?

The Killeen Daily Herald (Texas) posted an article yesterday entitled “CCISD board considering foreign exchange student limit” which, of course, caught my attention. In the article, the Copperas Cove Independent School District board is considering to institute a “three-year limit of six foreign exchange students in the district in order to prevent exchange students from taking up too much of a campus' resources.” You can link to the article here.

Here are some links to additional documents on this issue:
1) CCISD Regular Meeting Agenda Packet for Tuesday, December 8, 2009 where you can link to the "Action Sheet" and the "Foreign Exchange Student Waiver" in order to “Consider and Act to Approve Foreign Exchange Student Waiver for The 2010-2011, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 School Years”
2) The Texas Education Agency “Foreign Exchange Student Waiver Guidelines”
3) The Texas Education Agency “Foreign Exchange Students Frequently Asked Questions”

Finally, according to TEC §25.001 (e) (1) (2) (3), the district may only limit the number of foreign exchange students if the commissioner determines that the admission of a foreign exchange student would:
1) create a financial or staffing hardship for the district;
2) diminish the district’s ability to provide high quality educational services for the district’s domestic students; or
3) require domestic students to compete with foreign exchange students for educational resources.

I checked the Killeen Daily Herald and the CCISD websites today to see what decision, if any, came from last night’s meeting but can’t find anything. I’ll try to check from time to time to learn what the CCISD board decided on this.

What are your thoughts on this?

Photo credit: AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker

List of Movies/Television Programs where the Characters go Abroad

I’m starting to compile a list of movies and television programs where the young characters (roughly 14 years of age to somewhere in their early 20’s) go abroad and I need the help of IHEC Blog readers. While I’m primarily looking for movie and television characters from the United States who go abroad I would also like to learn of characters from any nation travelling to another country. Here is my very, very brief list:

- The Olsen twins
Passport to Paris (1999)
Winning London (2001)When in Rome (2002)

- The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003) - middle school trip to Rome

- Beverly Hills 90210 Brenda and Donna go to Paris

- Toot & Puddle which will be a topic of a future IHEC Blog post! (see photo above)

If you know of any movie or television characters who traveled abroad please let me know by adding the information to the comment section. This IHEC Blog post is in many ways a continuation of my most popular post entitled “Portrayal of Exchange Students in Movies on TV in the U.S.” which you can read here as well as a related post about Matthew McConaughey’s upcoming comedy film called Exchange Students which you can read here.

It should be noted that the above list of Olsen Twins and Lizzie McGuire movies and the 90210 television show does not reflect my personal viewing habits. Well, Toot & Puddle are enjoyable to watch with my children! I simply heard a colleague mention these at a session during the recent NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference in LA.

The Global Dimension of Walter Payton College Prep

Walter Payton College Preparatory High School, a Chicago Public School that specializes in mathematics, science and world languages, is a leader preparing the next generation of college students to be global citizens. Students can study Chinese, Japanese, Latin, French and Spanish and participate in ongoing and planned exchanges with Shenyang Experimental High School in China, in Strasbourg, France, with Osaka City Senior High School in Japan, in Milan, Italy and in Santiago, Chile. You can watch an excellent seven minute video on the international education opportunities available at Walter Payton College Preparatory High School on edutopia (The George Lucas Educational Foundation) here. Additionally, you can read about the international activities planned for 2008-2009 on the schools website here.