Our first batch of summer Mandarin Semifinalists are now available to interview! Mandarin applicants account for a significant portion of our total semifinalists to interview. In order to provide Semifinalist names to volunteers as quickly as possible they will be released in two batches, as soon as we receive them from American Councils. Please see below for further details.

Best wishes, Hannah Stewart!

We would like to announce that, after more than four years of service, Hannah Stewart’s last day at AFS-USA will be Friday, February 19. Hannah will be taking on the role of Program Manager at an NYC non-profit that provides math tutoring for secondary school students.

As many of you will remember, Hannah joined AFS in 2016 at a NSLI-Y Seasonal Interview Coordinator (SIC). Since then, Hannah has also served as NSLI-Y Seasonal Advisor and NSLI-Y Program Coordinator, before moving to her current position as NSLI-Y Specialist in 2019. Hannah cares deeply about the importance of youth education, language learning, and the mission of empowering globally engaged citizens. We have consulted Hannah countless times for her expertise on many issues, ranging from navigating challenging conversations with participants to conducting candidate interviews and completing interview forms to Russian culture!

We have also been so impressed by Hannah’s quick thinking and thoughtful design of the NSLI-Y NH20 summer and year-long virtual programs. When program planning shifted in the spring/summer of 2020, Hannah dove right in: training partners, adapting orientation content, coming up with unique instructional methods and participant engagement activities, managing participants and natural families, and so much more. The virtual programs that Hannah built became the foundation for the development of virtual programs across all our outbound sponsored programs. In total, during the NH20 NSLI-Y summer and year virtual programs, Hannah designed and oversaw over 4,000 hours of virtual participant language instruction and cultural activities, engaging well over 100 students, teachers, and volunteers around the world.

It has been a true pleasure working with Hannah! The NSLI-Y program, Sponsored Programs, and AFS-USA community have been lucky to have Hannah working with us, and we sincerely wish her the best of luck in her new position! And who knows, maybe we’ll see her at a NSLI-Y interview event at this time next year!

AFS-USA volunteers working on NSLI-Y interviews can continue working with their Seasonal Interview Coordinators (SICs), and can reach staff regarding the interview season at nsliyinterviews@afsusa.org or 646-751-2240. Melissa Rossi, NSLI-Y Coordinator, and Allen Evans, Manager of Outbound Sponsored Programs, will continue their work on NSLI-Y programming at AFS-USA in New York and can be reached at nsliforyouth@afsusa.org or 646-751-2238.

Please find the contact information for the new NSLI-Y summer Mandarin candidates in your area by searching Global Link using the NSLI Responsible Org, program code IPnsNH21! In order to provide Semifinalist names to volunteers as quickly as possible they will be released in two batches, as soon as we receive them from American Councils.

If you have any trouble accessing this information, you can follow the Global Link instructions on the MyAFS Help & Learning Page, or contact a SIC for assistance: nsliyinterviews@afsusa.org or 1.800.876.2376 x2240.

As a reminder, NSLI-Y/YES Abroad candidates will be released on a rolling timeline. Following is a brief summary of candidates released thus far and their interview timeline:

• All NSLI-Y Academic Year: Should be contacted for an interview by 1/15, with interviews completed by 1/31.
• All YES Abroad: Should be contacted for an interview by 1/21, with interviews completed by 2/7.
• NSLI-Y Summer Persian and Hindi: Should be contacted for an interview by 1/25, with interviews completed by 2/12.
• NSLI-Y Summer Indonesian and Turkish: Should be contacted for an interview by 1/31, with interviews completed by 2/12.
• NSLI-Y Summer Russian: Should be contacted for an interview by 2/15, with interviews completed by 2/28.
• NSLI-Y Summer Mandarin: Should be contacted for an interview by 2/22, with interviews completed by 2/28.

In order to best manage the cycle’s rolling interview timeline, we will close the service cases of applicants once their completed interview form is submitted for final evaluation.

Do not hesitate to reach our team at nsliyinterviews@afsusa.org or 1.800.876.2376 x2240 with any questions. Again, we’re thankful for your help in conducting interviews thus far this season! We continue to make great progress, with over 400 interviews conducted.

The AFS NSLI-Y/YES Abroad Interview Team