High Schools throughout the U.S. are considered a Medallion Member School when they say “yes” to hosting a Department of State sponsored program scholarship student (FLEX, YES, and CBYX). This Medallion Member School designation can be shared on the school’s website, social media, in newsletters, or on their school profile as it demonstrates their commitment to academic and cultural enrichment for their students through international student exchange. Schools hosting fall arrival participants were notified last fall of their status and were given access to the digital medallion and those hosting our January arrival students were notified in February.

However, the physical certificates were recently printed by the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and should be shipped directly to schools this week. We suggest you reach out to your local school, if they qualified, and make sure they received their certificate. This can be a great way to see if they’d like to have another sponsored programs student and/or to offer to present the certificate more formally at an upcoming School Board meeting. This is also a great talking point if you are approaching a school about potentially hosting a sponsored programs student for the upcoming academic year or semester. If you have questions, please reach out to us at educators@afsusa.org.