Guest Post: Educate your family by hosting an exchange student

Today I have a guest post from Rebecca Kinney who will share with us about hosting student ambassadors here in Alabama.

Here's what she wrote:

We all can't afford to take time off for vacations - no excursions to Europe or Asia, no trips to see the pyramids, or even 'working vacations' - those 'mission' trips to help with education or homebuilding in nations where help is needed.

A number of our American children cannot easily find most countries a map - we have fallen behind in the teaching of geography - at a time when the world is changing, nations are emerging, and global citizenship is more important than ever in a world of rapidly changing technology. The economy has changed for everyone - and those who used to travel frequently have had to keep closer to home, some will wait years for a family vacation that takes them out of state, and some people will continue to work and live, as their parents did before them, in the same area - never able to travel to see the wonders of the world - to meet people from other lands.

Those people who are familiar with the concept of 'foreign exchange students', know that families and communities that host them benefit by being exposed to other cultures. The U.S. State Department has developed programs that take that experience even further - in order to help not only exchange cultures, but improve conditions for people around the world, educate people here and abroad, and promote world peace.

The State Department has created scholarship leadership programs for high school students from other countries who desire to make positive changes in their home countries. These kids compete against tens of thousands of other students for the opportunity to come here for the opportunity to come experience American culture, and work with Community Coordinators who involve them in community service work, and help them to promote their cultures in our schools as the students give presentations about life in their home countries. In return for their time here - they go home and work with alumni organizations to do community service work for two years. This is a win-win-win program; for the U.S. who is helping raise resourceful young leaders for home and abroad, for the communities here and abroad who benefit from the community service, and for the families that host the students - as they learn to love the group of students here, especially their own exchange Student Ambassador - while they learn about the world.

Our children develop life-long ties with these children from around the world - ties that will open their minds, hearts, and horizons! It's common for families to keep in touch with their international friends and family that they meet through the program - and travel to see them! And the cost for participating in the program and hosting a student - it's simply the cost of feeding the student three meals a day - as you do your own children, giving them a bed of their own, and a place to study.

The exchange programs are available across the country, but here in Alabama we have a challenge to take advantage of this opportunity to enhance the education of our children - it's a program that is readily available, but under-utilized. PAX (Program of Academic Exchange), a non-profit organization that manages these State Department 'sponsored' students, and has a very experienced community coordinator working with the scholarship students here.

Currently, the incoming Student Ambassadors who will attend your local high schools will be coming from Liberia, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Republic of Georgia, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Bangladesh.

This is a life-changing experience for families of all kinds, and is also great for empty-nesters, or even people who live alone and would love to have the experience of learning about a person from another country and having someone to share dinner and conversation with! Call for more information about hosting -- (205)542-6165 or email

pax2peace@aol.com.

Rebecca Kinney works as an International Community Coordinator in non-profit and volunteer organizations that allow her to use her platforms to help in the education and management  of international high school 'Student Ambassadors' in U.S. State Department in leadership programs  that she places and oversees  for Program of Academic Exchange (PAX).  In that role, she teaches the students how to organize and conduct community service projects for work helping others when they return to their home countries.   She travels extensively to study world cultures, and has brought students from more than twenty different countries into our Alabama schools to share lessons in their cultures and geography with their American classmates – creating global citizens and lasting friendships among people all over the world.

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