By request, the Edmonds Beacon is reprinting a speech delivered by exchange student Tinus Tuozie, of Ghana, West Africa, at the Meadowdale High School graduation ceremony on June 19.
By Tinus Tuozie
There are moments in our lives when we need to put the past aside and focus on our achievements, and today is one such moment I am so delighted to be part of. It was a dream come true when I was accepted into the “land of the free and home of the brave.”
I came here not to demand respect from you or to take anything away from you; I came here to give my heart out, just to see light and to be considered one of you. But you have taken me in as more than a student, which I don’t even deserve. I have nothing of my own to give back, and therefore the only thing to give back is to make you proud for taking time to make me who I am.
Words cannot express my gratitude at this moment of my life. I feel uplifted about being part of this great day where courage, determination, hard work and hope have been our only choices since the beginning of this academic journey.
My ever grateful and heartfelt thanks go to the United States of America, state of Washington and the Edmonds School District for taking me as one of you in your beautiful land. May you live long to produce great people such as those before me.
Thank you to the staff of Meadowdale High School who have been such wonderful support in making this year a success and to AFS/AYA [American Field Service/Academic Year in America, an intercultural-exchange program] for this excellent opportunity to come to the United States.
I cannot take my seat without saying a very big thank you to my brother, my friend and my partner, Brenden Howell, and his wonderful family and friends who have been so tremendous in my life.
You have been so outstanding and amazing and words cannot describe how I wish to express my profound gratitude today. Thank you for accepting me into your home. I appreciate every minute I spend in your hands.
To my colleagues, the Class of 2010, it has been a short stay here, and how I wish I had gotten to know you all better and treat you with more respect. I wish you the best in life, and I promise to be with you as a brother, as a friend and as a partner.
I am so very proud to call myself a Maverick of Ghana and a Maverick of Africa. I hope you have a goal in life, because I do, and it is for my country Ghana, my continent Africa and the world.
Peace is my dream, peace is my goal, peace I want for you and peace we shall achieve.
This is the time.
I ask today that this graduation will forever be part of your life, as it is for me.
May God bless you and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.
Copyright © 2010 by Beacon Publishing, Inc.
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Exchange Student Inspires at Edmonds Schools
This article was originally published on the US Embassy Malaysia website
On July 6, Cultural Affairs Officer (CAO) Nicholas Papp welcomed home 47 Malaysian alumni of the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program after their six month exchange program in the United States. The workshop started with a video screening of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s June 16th remarks to a group of YES alumni in Washington DC. The speech highlighted the importance of the YES program, alumni engagement and giving back to the community.
Together with International Visitor Leadership program alumnus “Dash” Dhakshinamoorthy Balakrishnan, Papp engaged and invigorated the new alumni in a 90-minute workshop focused on alumni partnerships to give back to the community. The returnees were attending a three day debriefing program organized by AFS International Malaysia. Although a bit jetlagged from their long journey home, the alumni were fresh with ideas for future alumni projects and agreed on the importance of building and sustaining partnerships between the alumni of various USG sponsored exchange programs such as Fulbright and the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). In his message, “Dash” shared his exchange program experiences, having recently attended the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship as well as a three-week IVLP. He stressed the importance of making the most of their new-found knowledge and global mindset to help the disadvantaged in their communities.
After an overview on upcoming alumni projects, the alumni broke into groups to begin charting out their action plans for an exciting alumni project which will focus on engaging alumni in partnerships to implement a series of community development projects. These community development projects will focus on Leadership Skills Development, English Language Skills Development, Poverty Reduction, Environmental Issues and Global Climate Change, Poverty Reduction, and Social Entrepreneurship.
The Embassy’s new embassy Alumni Coordinator, Tryphena Mathius, will be involved in coordinating these project with the goal of networking and associating alumni of U.S. government sponsored exchange programs in Malaysia.
Related articles: YES Malaysia Alumni News
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Photo from US Embassy Malaysia
This article was originally published on the US Embassy Bangkok website
BANGKOK, Thailand – On July 1, 2010, an energetic group of the Youth Exchange and Study Program (YES) alumni organized an afterschool event for students at the Islamic Wittayalai School. More than 35 students from the Department of State’s English Access Microscholarship Program (Access) participated in this informative and engaging activity. At the opening ceremony, Ms. Chollada Suawong, an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) alumna and an English teacher, delivered welcoming remarks to the participants and introduced the YES alumni who helped make this event happen.
This one and a half hour long session consisted of a series of educational and fun activities including a PowerPoint presentation on U.S. Independence Day, a YES program on life in the U.S. as Muslim exchange students, games, quizzes, and prizes. This program gave the Access students a great opportunity to open their minds and made classroom learning more real through interactions with State Alumni who had lived and studied in the U.S.
For more information on specific programs, please visit the following links: Youth Exchange and Study Program (YES), International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and English Access Microscholarship Program (Access).
Photo from US Embassy Bangkok.
This article was originally published in the Everett, WA HeraldNet
Glacier Peak students collect donated soccer equipment for African nation
By Amy Daybert, Herald Writer
SNOHOMISH — Students weren’t quietly studying Tuesday in marketing teacher Alicia Sents’ room at Glacier Peak High School.
Instead they were deflating soccer balls and sorting pairs of soccer cleats.
The used soccer equipment was donated to the Kickin’ It For Kenya soccer ball and equipment drive. Sents’ students organized the drive after a Glacier Park foreign exchange student talked to their class in April about his home country.
Solomon Nkinai, 18, told his schoolmates about his life in Kajiado in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. He described his village, his school and spoke about hunting lion. He talked about his love for soccer and how kids in Kenya play with homemade soccer balls of garbage bags, tarps, rope or string.
“I remember one time we decided to collect money to buy some soccer balls and we couldn’t even afford to buy one,” he said.
The students in the sports and entertainment marketing class decided they would help children in Kenya get traditional soccer balls and equipment. They introduced the Kickin’ It For Kenya drive during an assembly three days later. A friendly class competition was held May 3-14 to see what class could collect the most donations.
Soccer equipment continued to be dropped off, even after Beth Flansburg’s fifth period class won the prize — a pizza party.
Additional donations were given by the Seattle Sounders FC, the University of Washington Alumni soccer players and the Northwest Nationals Soccer Club. So far, they’ve collected more than 100 soccer balls and lots of other equipment.
Sents expects donations of balls, shoes, and jerseys to continue to be dropped off at the school until the end of the drive on June 4.
“When Solomon came to me I told him if we do this it’s going to be probably bigger than what you can imagine and it’s actually bigger than I thought, too,” Sents said. ”I knew there was a possibility of this kind of generosity from the community but I definitely was overwhelmed by the donations and help that has come out of this. It’s good for the students to see this and experience this.”
Nkinai started living with his Everett host family in August and began attending Glacier Peak at the beginning of the school year. He’s played soccer for five years. At Glacier Peak, he was part of the varsity cross country team and was a midfielder on the Glacier Peak junior varsity soccer team.
“I like playing soccer a lot,” he said. “I don’t really play for my school team because in Kenya it’s mostly strictly studies so if I spend my time playing sports it will affect my grades and that’s not an excuse in Kenya.”
Nkinai attends Olkejuado High School in Kenya. He studies to get good grades, he said, so he can become a dentist one day.
Nkinai will leave Washington and fly to Washington, D.C., on June 28. On July 3, he’ll return home to Kenya.
Sents and her class hope the soccer equipment won’t be far behind him.
“(Soccer equipment) will take about a month to get to Kenya,” Sents said. “Our goal is to have it there for him so he can help distribute them to the children and students.”
Organizing the soccer drive taught students how to contact different organizations like Seattle Sounders FC and how to get people involved in a cause, senior Cody Wollman, 18, said.
“This has been pretty fun,” he said. “It feels good to help out Solomon. We feel good he’s going back with something.”
The class is selling red, black, and green bracelets with the slogan “Kickin’ It For Kenya” for $1 during lunchtime to raise money to ship the donations to Kenya.
“We’re trying to raise money but we’ve been quoted $2,500 to ship 20 boxes of a certain size,” Sents said.
Junior Katie Brown, 17, said the soccer drive appears to be more popular than past fundraisers at the school.
“It’s just surprising that we would fill up the conference room,” Brown said. “I really don’t think (Solomon) was expecting that either.”
Brown didn’t know Nkinai before she helped to organize the Kickin’ It For Kenya drive but said they’ve talked a few times since.
“Every time I see him in the hallway I say, ‘Hey’” she said.
Nkinai said he would like to return to Washington some day and when he does, Glacier Peak will be one place he visits.
“When I come back I will not forget to come back here and say hi,” he said.
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com
Kickin’ It For Kenya
New or gently used soccer equipment and monetary donations to help send the equipment to Kenya can be dropped off at Glacier Peak High School, 7401 144th Place SE, in Snohomish. Call the school at 360-563-7500 for more information about the Kickin’ It For Kenya soccer drive.
Photo: Michael O’Leary, the Herald
© 2010 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA.
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