National Hosting Kick-Off Recap
On Thursday, January 23, we loaded the AFS Bus with Volunteers and Staff to take a trip through AFS history, stopping at “Bus Stops” to learn what to look forward to in 2025. We invite you to view the recording here.
AFS-USA will be placing 970 Students for the NH25 Placement Cycle! Please see the updated Hosting Distribution Process. The goal is to have all the students in secured placements by the First Arrival Deadline of July 23. These students will arrive on program August 6th. The priority for February is to place all the rollover students. Area Teams who placed SH25 and/or Rollover students have an opportunity to take advantage of the POGO incentive.
Check out below the different “Bus Stops” we visited during the National Hosting Kick-Off for some important links and updates:
Bus Stop #1: Intercultural Education and Participant Learning Dept
Click HERE to register for Foundations of Intercultural Learning and Global Competence – a training opportunity for all volunteers. Scroll to the bottom of the page to fill out the registration form and click YES, you have approval to do this training!
If you are involved in Orientations for students, or want to learn more, check out the past Orientation Newsletters HERE
Bus Stop #2: Marketing and External Communication
Are you interested in getting involved more on the local level to help promote AFS? Join the Marketing/Outreach leader group? Click HERE for more information
Bus Stop #3: Announcement of the Area Team Trip Winners
AFS Students helped announce the Area Team Winners who won a trip to visit our AFS Partners in Germany, Italy and Thailand. The Winning Area Teams will be able to select a volunteer from their team to travel to meet AFS Staff and Volunteers in one of these partner countries. Congratulations to the winning teams:
- Thailand: San Diego Area Team and Missouri Gateway Area Team
- Germany: Inland Empire Area Team and Baltimore Area Team
- Italy: Florida Area Team and Michigan Area Team
Bus Stop #4: School Partnership & Outreach
All volunteers are invited to join a monthly school outreach meeting to become familiar with the latest offerings to share with schools. We know that building strong school relationships helps us place our students! Click HERE to sign-up and learn more.
Bus Stop #5: Sponsored Programs
As you work with families interested in hosting be sure to consider YES or FLEX students. You can find talking points on MyAFS as well as on Help and Learning HERE.
Thank you to all the AFS Volunteers that help place and support the AFSers across the US!
Please reach out to your Regional Field Specialist or Regional Director if you want to get more involved in promoting AFS students to come to your community. If you are unsure who your Hosting Staff are, please reach out at askafs@afsusa.org to get connected.