Jun 02 2008 / PAX May Newsletter Now On-Line

PAX Press is now on-line!
Check it out here.

May 30 2008 / Students Donate "Locks of Love"

Hazel Santos, 07-08 YES PAX student from The Philippines, and exchange student Ingrid Barros from Brazil, enrolled in Bay City Western High School in Michigan, heard about “Locks of Love” – a program to donate hair to be made into wigs for children who have lost their own hair from chemotherapy treatments.

Ingrid and Hazel, along with several other students, signed up to have 12 inches of their hair cut in the school auditorium in front of their classmates and collected almost $200 in pledge money for cancer research. All this happened 6 weeks before their prom! What a gift of love and sacrifice! Sarah, their older host family sister, was so inspired, that she also had 12 inches cut from her hair and collected $100 in pledges. This kindhearted gesture came from two compassionate and caring exchange students living in a new culture, new family, and new school! The Kernstock Family says: “We feel blessed to have had them with us this year!”

May 15 2008 / YES Alumni Call for Applications!

We’re selecting up to 6 active YES Alumni to be Group Leaders for this year’s YES End-of-Stay orientation in Washington DC from 30 June to 4 July! You must be an active volunteer for the YES alumni organization in your home region.
This is an opportunity to reflect on your own end-of-stay and how your YES experience has impacted your life. We are also looking for alumni input on the end-of-stay orientation content

Group Leader Job Description:

The Group Leader volunteer is responsible for working with approximately 10 students for the duration of the orientation, leading them through various session content as well as several organized meetings with various religious leaders as well as government officials.

Additional information on eligibility and selection criteria can be found on the application.
You can download the application here: YES Alumni Wiki

Applications are due to your AFS National office or local alumni leadership by 22 May!

May 06 2008 / National Volunteer Week

In honor of National Volunteer Week, we would like to extend a sincere THANK YOU to all of the volunteers who selflessly dedicate their time and energy to enriching our public diplomacy initiatives (CB, FLEX and YES programs). 2007-2008 has been an extremely rewarding and fun-filled year. The impact volunteers make on our participants is remarkable, and we appreciate all that you contribute in your efforts to make their respective stays positive and memorable.

Students have participated in a thought provoking array of cluster activities and student leadership opportunities during this past year, ranging from excursions to our nation’s capitol to trips to local government offices and community centers to outreach efforts associated with local environmental organizations; thank you to all those who took the time to organize, implement and lead these adventures!

Through the unwavering commitment of our volunteers, the uniqueness of these programs persists in being progressively reinforced, and our commitment to providing exciting opportunities for intercultural exchange continues to flourish.

We’re looking forward to the 2008-2009 cycle!!

Apr 25 2008 / International Coffee House to Honor Exchange Visitor

This article was originally posted at The Oshkosh Northwestern


Contributed by Mary Ann Offer

The Oshkosh Northwestern, WI

The public is invited to an International Coffee House, on Friday, April 25, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at the UW Oshkosh Women’s Center. The Women’s Center is on Irving Street, near the corner of Elmwood and Irving Streets. The Oshkosh AFS Chapter is hosting the coffee house to honor Youth and Exchange Study (YES) Program visitor, Armieyah “Mae” Ayob, a 2004-2005 Philippine exchange student to Milwaukee who was selected by AFS in the Philippines to represent them at a recent YES Program conference in Washington, D.C. Currently hosted YES students will be helping to host the coffee house. Coffee, non-alcoholic beverages, and international desserts will be served. There is no admission fee or charge for refreshments.

In 1947 a group of World War I and II American volunteer ambulance drivers, the American Field Service (AFS), started an intercultural exchange program. They wanted to provide a way for people from different countries and cultures to learn to understand each other, in hopes of finding a way to world peace. The first AFS exchange students were German teenagers who came to the US, their country’s recent adversary, just a few years after the end of World War II. In the sixty years since then, hundreds of thousands of teenagers from around the world have lived as members of families in different countries as AFS exchange students. The Oshkosh AFS chapter has hosted 107 AFS students since the first German student, Gabriela Borbein, came to Oshkosh High School in 1950, and 56 Oshkosh students have lived with families in 27 different countries as AFS exchange students.

After the events of September 11, 2001, it became clear to people concerned about world peace that Americans and Muslims from other parts of the world were suffering from a lack of understanding of each others’ cultures. In collaboration with other exchange partners and with funding from the U.S. Department of State’s Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau, AFS entered into an agreement to provide a full-scholarship exchange program to students from countries with significant Muslim populations. This is known as the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program. Thirty countries participate; AFS hosts YES students from nine of them: Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, and the Philippines, with Kenya soon to follow.

photo: Oshkosh hosted students meet with Senator Herb Kohl

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