Each year AYA awards $1,000 to high schools across the U.S. who have demonstrated a strong commitment to intercultural education programs and missions at the local level. The Tony Cook Memorial Grant was established to support high schools in the U.S. that illustrate a commitment to international exchange by hosting exchange students and developing projects, programs and/or events that teach students about global awareness. Last year AYA proudly awarded 15 high schools to help grow their international education initiatives. Recently, we caught up with one of the winners, Kenton Public High School in Ohio to see how the Tony Cook Memorial Grant has supported their international educational goals.
Kenton Public High School hosts on average five to eight exchange students each year and strongly believes in the importance of teaching its students and community about the world and cultural exchange. Last March, Jennifer Penczarski, Superintendent at Kenton Public High School applied for the grant to help develop an extra-curricular club for its students, KATS (Kenton Association of Traveling Teens). Jennifer Penczarski, commented, “The Kenton community and school district have been very supportive of our international exchange students. By adding the KATS program to our high school, we will bring about more awareness and understanding of each student’s individual country and culture to more people.”
Over the course of the 2015 academic year KATS has grown and developed significantly and has given dozens of presentations to the local elementary school and high school about cultural differences, world traditions and global education. Most recently the members of KATS have been delivering presentations about how holidays are celebrated around the world vs. the U.S. Sasha an AYA-FLEX student from Kazakhstan joined KATS this year and has presented to over 300 second and third graders about how holidays are celebrated in her home country.
AYA is very proud to see how the Tony Cook Grant has helped KATS flourish in Kenton’s community and school district. Jennifer shared, “As KATS grows and develops overtime, the depth of people the program will touch and the amount of Kenton ambassadors we will have all over the world will be amazing!” AYA is very excited to see what KATS ambassadors will bring to our future and we know it will positively impact everyone it touches!
If your school is interested in applying for the Tony Cook Memorial Grant, stay tuned for more details on how to apply for the 2016 application on our website. You can also learn more about the Tony Cook Memorial Grant, here.
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