Dear AFS-USA Volunteers,

I have some exciting news to share with you that will help you in your outreach to schools while increasing positioning of AFS-USA as a thought leader in international education.

In our continuing efforts to broaden the depth and reach of AFS-USA as a well-recognized and respected thought leader, I recently met with the President and CEO of NAFSA, Dr. Esther Brimmer, and several other organizational leaders in Washington, DC. Based on our excellent work as a volunteer-based organization in international education, I am pleased to announce that AFS-USA was selected to co-collaborate with NAFSA, the world’s largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange, by co-presenting the Secondary School Assembly during the NAFSA 2019 National Conference and Expo in Washington, DC from May 28 to 29, 2019.

This collaboration breaks new ground for AFS-USA and will increase our visibility and positioning where we need it most—in our schools and the educational community-at-large. As an AFS Volunteer, you can take great pride in knowing that this is something that YOU helped make possible!

The Secondary School Assembly will be co-branded as presented by NAFSA and AFS-USA. AFS-USA will help to develop the conference agenda for the Secondary School Assembly, and we will have opportunities to provide workshops and leadership during the conference. In addition, we will offer a national conference registration discount* of 20% (members rate) to all AFS affiliates—including our high school principals and teachers.

For much of its history, NAFSA’s focus has been on educators at the college and university level. However, in recent years they broadened their programs and services to become more inclusive of educators from the secondary school community. As mentioned on the NAFSA website, “The NAFSA Annual Conference & Expo unites nearly 10,000 attendees each year from more than 3,500 institutions and organizations from more than 100 countries. It is the most comprehensive international education event serving the diverse needs of the entire international education community.”

I encourage you to mention this new collaboration and offer the registration discounts in your conversations with educators, principals, and school administrators. This is a perfect way to tangibly demonstrate that AFS-USA is engaged in working in mutually beneficial endeavors and not solely as an organization asking for ‘school spots’ during our hosting season. To help spread the word, I will be sending an email to the schools with whom we work to ensure that they are aware of our work with NAFSA.

NAFSA’s website is a terrific resource for learning about some of their past and present initiatives. You can download a conference flyer here​.

Thank you for the work you do every day to keep our mission thriving and evolving to meet the needs of our ever-changing world. I am proud to work in partnership with you all!

Sincerely,

Tara M. Hofmann
President & CEO
AFS-USA, Inc.

*To get the conference discount mentioned above, just use the promo code “AFS100” when registering for the national conference. We encourage all volunteers and staff to share this promo code with educators, guidance counselors, school administrators, and any other educational partners who are also supporters of global education.