AFS-USA Alumni, Tom Robertson (U.S. to Germany 1967-68) and John Canning (U.S. to Germany 1991-92), attended their alma mater, Princeton, for a panel discussion event earlier this month. Below is a recap of the event from Tom and John:

It was great to be joined by so many AFSers in their orange finery at Princeton last Friday for a discussion on how these two great institutions, AFS and Princeton, have played important roles in our lives.

At the event, AFS archivist, Nicole Milano, traced the American Field Service’s extensive history – from its founding as a WWI volunteer ambulance corps by Princetonian, A. Piatt Andrew, to the eventual establishment of the AFS student exchange programs we know today, which was led by another Princetonian, Ward Chamberlin, Jr. Tom spoke about AFS and Princeton’s influence on his foreign service career, while detailing ways AFS-USA is tackling the challenges facing the exchange industry through working with the bi-partisan congressional caucus. Janel Anderberg Callon also shared her experience on how AFS has inspired her to be more open to new experiences, which ultimately led to her spending her life abroad in Japan, decades after her years in Princeton.

Following the formal panel, we had a lively discussion among attendees who represented AFS Princetonians from the 1950s to present day. What became abundantly clear was that no matter when you went abroad with AFS or attended Princeton, both institutions played a pivotal role in shaping who we have become today.

New ideas were born, such as growing our work with college admissions offices to reaffirm the crucial impact of international experience in college applications. We even discussed how our rival, Yale, is taking our own idea and running with it to create a similar group! All in all, it was an exciting, fruitful event full of stories and ideas on how we can increase and expand international education to students.

We left the day thinking we would like to do this again. So, we ask you to do a few things: stay in touch with us by visiting the AFS-USA’s Princeton page, call or write to your congressmen to let them know what exchange means to you, and donate to AFS-USA if you are able to do so. Let’s stay in touch, and we look forward to the next time we will be seeing each other again.

Wishing you a wonderful summer ahead!

Click here to see pictures from the event.