| Dear Educator,
As many countries retreat and adopt more isolationist stances, AFS becomes an even greater resource to help teenagers expand their global awareness and develop critical, cross-cultural communications skills. In a world made smaller by instant access to information, it is even more imperative for young people not to retreat, but to meaningfully engage with people from other cultures first-hand. But, as you and I know, not every student wants or can afford to study abroad in high school.
That’s why I am writing to you today.
Sharing daily life with their peers from other countries and cultures prepares U.S. students to become future leaders in ways that nothing else can. By opening your school to an AFS Exchange Student and benefitting from the support and educational resources provided by local AFS Volunteers, you are providing opportunities for ALL of your students to benefit by getting to reallyknow a same-age peer from a different culture. The transformation that takes place by forming personal bonds, cultural links, and an appreciation of the world in all its richness—is a precious gift to the planet’s future decision-makers.
Welcome an AFS Exchange Student and Your School Can Earn Scholarship Funding
By welcoming an additional student (or students), you’ll increase your students’ level of global competence while helping to further the AFS mission of creating a more just and peaceful world. But it doesn’t stop there. Welcome an AFS Student to your school, or agree to add another AFS student, and contact me so that I can allocate scholarship funding to your school that you can award to a qualified student (or students) who would like to apply for an AFS study abroad opportunity. Together we’ll prepare a plan for ensuring that more of your students can benefit from increasing their global competence and have opportunities to apply for scholarships abroad.
Join Me in Minneapolis at our Summit this Fall. If Your Proposal is Accepted, AFS will Provide Airfare, Lodging, and Meals!
As a leader in international education for more than 70 years, AFS-USA strives to not just place foreign students in schools or send U.S. students abroad, we are also committed to working in educational partnership with schools.
With more than 4,000 volunteers in communities throughout the United States, we’re eager to learn as much as we can about the needs and challenges of U.S. principals, school board members, guidance counselors, and, of course, teachers.
As such, we would like to invite you to submit a proposal to share your knowledge with AFS Volunteers and Staff at this years’ AFS National Volunteer Summit during the weekend of November 15-17, 2019, in Bloomington, MN (suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul) at the Radisson Blu – Mall of America.
Submit your proposal around an area of expertise you’re eager to share, whether it’s better informing us of your school’s approach to increasing global competency to ways that your school has expanded the benefits of hosting exchange students. Bring your global competency “best practices” to the table so that we can learn how we can work in greater partnership with the schools that host our students. Click here to submit your proposal today. The deadline is September 9th, 2019.
Speaking of opportunities to share best practices, I would also encourage you to consider attending the AFS Global Conference in Montreal from the 9th to the 11th of October. It’s a conference made up of global competency professionals – from high schools, organizations like AFS, and many thought leaders in the field of global education.
In closing, as the new President and CEO of AFS-USA I want you to know that we are more dedicated than ever to working in an educational partnership with you. Since 1947 when AFS began its exchange program—and students arrived by ship, we have been focused on providing educational experiences for high school students who are supported by local, experienced volunteers and staff—many of whom are or were once teachers.
We hope you will agree to welcome a student into your school now, or perhaps one more, so that all students will benefit from the person-to-person diplomacy that our world really needs.
Thank you for all that you do to promote global competency in your school community. I look forward to learning more about how AFS can help you in these efforts. You can reach me via email at thofmann@afsusa.org or by phone at 646-751-2007.
With warmest regards,
Tara M. Hofmann
President & CEO
AFS-USA, Inc. |