YES students currently in the U.S. weren’t the only members of the YES family celebrating International Education Week (IEW), a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, which took place from November 13-17 this year. While YES students in the U.S. were busy sharing their culture with nearly 125,000 Americans, YES alumni around the globe were sharing their American experience with their home communities! IEW gave YES alumni the opportunity to educate their countrymen about America, continuing to meet the YES program’s goal of building bridges of mutual understanding and friendship around the world.

Alumni began gearing up the week prior to IEW with videos wishing the YES community a “Happy International Education Week” in their native language. From Bosnia and Herzegovina to Senegal, Bulgaria to Tunisia, YES alumni kicked off IEW by sharing short messages in their native languages. 

Watch Zain’s greeting from Jordan:

IEW also inspired alumni to do projects and hold events to share information about the YES program with their communities. Like these alumni in Kosovo who held a fair to talk with the citizens of Prishtina about the YES program:

Alumni in Senegal delivered school supplies to the students of Historical Leopold Angrand Elementary School on Goree Island.

YES alumni in Albania, joined by the U.S. Embassy in Tirana, celebrated IEW at the National Book Fair. Special guests in attendance included members of the new American football club from the Harry Fultz Institute in Tirana.

Alumni in Pakistan held an orphan’s day out, complete with a sack race!

International education week was also a time for alumni to reflect on their U.S. experiences. An alumnus from Kosovo, Andi Jashari (YES '16), said, "International education taught me that being a family is the time, care, effort, and love people put into it. It's not about being inseparable; it's about being separated and nothing changing. It's been two years since I've been an exchange student but nothing has changed between us because I know I'll love and be loved forever."