Dear Study Abroad and Orientations Volunteers,
We hope that you are having a wonderful May! Please find an update on our Study Abroad programs and planning below!
Programs:
Our final SH22 program to Japan is planning to finally depart this weekend! We are so pleased that this group will finally be able to have their study abroad experience and are very thankful to all of the staff and volunteers who have worked so hard with this group.
All NH22 programs, including summer programs, are now closed. We transferred 117 Year and Semester applications and 88 Summer applications to our hosting partners and are now working with those partners to receive acceptances for our participants, as well as providing host family information to our applicants and parents where applicable, and providing visa and residence permit applicant support. If you have a question about a program, or an applicant in line for a specific program, please remember that you can pull the Study Abroad Programs and Pipeline report to see which Study Abroad team member works with each program!
Our SH23 programs are now live on the website! We have been running into a few errors regarding applicant eligibility, so if you are working with an applicant who experiences any issues, please encourage them to reach out to us directly at studyabroad@afsusa.org.
Scholarships:
This year we set up one general AFS-USA funded scholarship for applicants to apply for. The deadline for applications has now passed, and our team along with some Development staff will be working on making awards by early June. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please let us know!
Program Prep Webinars:
Every cycle the Study Abroad team operates the Program Prep webinars that address questions and concerns like: What should I pack? When do I get notified about my host family? When do I get visa information? Who do I reach out to if I, or my son/daughter, has an issue? For the NH22 participants we will be holding these webinars in the next few weeks, so please encourage applicants you are in touch with to keep an eye out for messaging from us to sign up!
We are also working with the Participant Support team to develop a webinar for parents that we are hoping to launch for NH22. We hope to help set expectations, answer questions/concerns, and establish the handoff between Study Abroad and Support once the participant departs for their program.
Orientation Information:
Our Manager of Intercultural Education and Participant Learning, Martha Friend, shared the below update. For questions about this, please contact her at mfriend@afsusa.org.
Call For Facilitators: Student Learning Journey Program:
Do you want to be part of a growing community of more than 100 AFS SLJ online facilitators from over 32 countries sharing best practices and co-facilitating live sessions via Zoom for our High School Abroad Programs? This is a great global engagement opportunity for volunteers. Apply to become a facilitator of the Student Learning Journey online program and share this with other volunteers who you think would be interested.
Click Here To Read More & Apply Now
NH22 Study Abroad: Pre-Departure Orientations
This is an exciting time for the NH22 departure cycle; programs are filling up and many area teams are planning their local Pre-Departure Orientations for the first time in a couple of years. It will be a great opportunity to connect with your outbound students and prepare them for their AFS experience abroad!
AFS will once again offer a series of National Virtual Pre-Departure Orientations (PDOs). Given the larger number of in-person team PDOs taking place, we will offer fewer national events, but they will be available to students and their parents who are not able to attend an in-person local orientation event.
Led by staff and volunteers, the National PDO webinars will focus on the intercultural learning aspects of students’ preparation and complement the concepts covered in the Student Learning Journey.
Content for the national PDOs will be the same as the local PDO presentation delivered by volunteers, which is focused on setting realistic expectations, sharing hopes and concerns, brainstorming coping strategies, the AFS Support Structure, and intercultural learning tools such as the D.I.V.E. model.
Please note staff will not be inviting participants to attend the national PDO events, we leave it to volunteers to inform students and their parents of this option only if they cannot attend a local PDO. This prevents participants from ‘choosing’ the national virtual event over the local one.
Volunteers can provide the following registration links to any participants who will not be attending their local event:
- Thurs, 15-Jun, 8pm EST, Meeting link
- Thurs, 14-Jul, 8pm EST, Meeting link
- Thurs, 16-Aug, 8pm EST, Meeting link
To check whether students from your area have registered for a National PDO, please contact mfriend@afsusa.org.
Click here for more information about Pre-Departure Orientations and how to find a list of students going abroad in your area to invite to your PDO.
Thank you for all that you do!
Until next month,
The Study Abroad Team
Caitlin, Parker, Adriana, Jennifer, and Erin