When you host an international exchange student, you lay a foundation for teamwork and communication across nations, cultures and generations. When you support global citizenship and become a host family with Academic Year in America, you become a beacon of hope for international understanding. Welcoming an AYA student is an opportunity to expand your ties to your community and establish bonds of friendship that reach across world boundaries.
We can take the first steps toward international understanding on a larger scale by sharing our differences and similarities as individuals. When things are foreign, they can be confusing and intimidating—and maybe even intriguing.
Unfortunately, without opportunities to observe, learn from, interact and share with people from foreign places, we are often afraid and judgmental of different customs, cultures and ideologies. It can seem easier to stick with what’s familiar and comfortable than reach out with an open mind. Fortunately, that factor of intrigue can spark innate curiosity in people.
That curiosity can override fear and ignorance when opportunities to explore and challenge presumptions are available. When you welcome an international exchange student to your family, you introduce cultural exchange to your family, neighbors, local high school and surrounding community. Through cultural exchange and human interaction, one person at a time, we have the chance to start taking those steps toward open-minded communication and learning respect for one another.
Academic Year in America students are young people with tremendous energy, potential for leadership, curiosity about the world and fantastic open minds. Their willingness to live and study in the U.S. to learn from us and share their backgrounds and experiences is a gift to our nation. They enrich our communities and give us a chance to become more familiar with places, people and ideas from the far corners of the world. When they return home, the exchange comes full circle, and they are able to share firsthand experiences and perspectives of what the U.S. is really like.
To learn more about our programs to host international high school students, please visit Academic Year in America online or email aya.info@aifs.org.
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