Every year, exchange students walk into high school classrooms across the U.S. In doing so, they enrich the schools that welcome them with a global perspective and help spread intercultural understanding throughout the broader community.
The Tony Cook Memorial Grant was established by the AIFS Foundation to support schools that amplify this impact through projects, programs, and events that foster global awareness among students. Through annual $1,000 awards to U.S. high schools, the grant helps grow and strengthen international education programs at the local level.
This year’s recipients represent ten schools across nine states, each with a unique vision for what international education can look like in their communities. Including food fairs, cultural showcases, immersive travel programs, and art projects rooted in global traditions, these schools are finding creative, community-driven ways to bring the world into their classrooms. Academic Year in America (AYA) and the AIFS Foundation are proud to recognize them.
Discover how this year’s recipients of the Tony Cook Memorial Grant plan to use their $1,000 award to support international education!
Explore the 2025 – 2026 High School Recipients
Baldwyn High School | Mississippi
Baldwyn’s Stamp Your Passport, Expand Your World event is a student-led cultural celebration featuring interactive country booths with food, music, games, crafts, and storytelling led by exchange students and local students alike. The event will be open to the larger community, including elementary and middle school students, creating an opportunity for hands-on cultural learning across generations.
By bringing together students, families, and community members from a wide variety of backgrounds, the project aims to foster empathy, reduce stereotypes, and strengthen appreciation for global diversity.
Bradford Area High School | Pennsylvania
Bradford Area High School is launching a student travel club with an inaugural educational trip to Costa Rica, designed to provide students in a rural, economically disadvantaged community with meaningful exposure to global cultures, sustainability, biodiversity, and language immersion.
The experience will give students firsthand access to people and perspectives beyond their local community, helping them broaden their worldview and begin to see themselves as global citizens. It’s an impactful undertaking that demonstrates the impact of international education and firsthand intercultural experience.
Central High School | Florida
Central High School’s Global Voices Showcase is a schoolwide initiative that celebrates exchange students through cultural displays, student video spotlights, welcome kits, and an interactive Culture Day featuring food, games, and presentations.
By giving exchange students a platform to share their personal stories, traditions, and daily life experiences, the project creates ongoing opportunities for authentic peer-to-peer cultural learning. The initiative is designed to encourage inclusivity, curiosity, and respect for all perspectives across the entire school community.
Clarksville High School | Tennessee
During International Education Week, Clarksville High School will host a Taste of the World Food Fair featuring international cuisine prepared by local restaurants and exchange students, along with information about the countries represented.
The event is intended to expose students to cultures they may not otherwise encounter and to spark curiosity about the wider world. Through food and cultural programming, students will gain a greater appreciation for different traditions, lifestyles, and perspectives.
Cumberland High School | Wisconsin
Cumberland High School’s grant will support two connected initiatives: an International Week featuring games, food tastings, and cultural presentations, in addition to a student trip to the Twin Cities for a globally focused community service project and cultural experiences within the Asian community in St. Paul.
Together, the programs offer students both in-school exposure to new cultures and opportunities to engage with international communities outside their own. The service project will also help students connect global humanitarian needs and cultural empahty with local action.
Hannah-Pamplico High School | South Carolina
Hannah-Pamplico High School will use its grant to purchase Spanish-language books for Spanish I and II classes, strengthening students’ literacy, comprehension, communication, and writing skills in the target language.
Alongside language development, students will explore cultural topics such as food, traditions, and music from Spanish-speaking countries. The project takes a practical, curriculum-integrated approach to building cross-cultural communication skills and fostering international understanding.
Ithaca High School | New York
Ithaca High School’s Morocco Cultural Exchange Club provides students with an immersive experience in Morocco through school partnerships, homestays, cultural activities, and language learning. The program was founded to help counter anti-Islamic stereotypes and misinformation by giving students direct, personal exposure to Moroccan culture, history, religion, and daily life.
By forming relationships with families and peers in Muslim and Arab communities, students return with deeper empathy, cultural awareness, and a commitment to promoting inclusivity and understanding within their school community.
Maple Valley Public School | North Dakota
Maple Valley’s The Global Kiln project will introduce students to international ceramic traditions by using a new electric kiln. Students will study and create work inspired by techniques from Japanese, Native American, and European traditions, culminating in a community exhibition that invites the broader public to engage with the cultural themes explored throughout the year.
The initiative transforms art education into a hands-on exploration of global cultures and shared creativity. It’s an excellent example of how arts education can mold cultural understanding.
Montwood High School | Texas
Montwood High School’s International Tea event will bring students and staff together to create country-themed display tables featuring artifacts, snacks, drinks, and presentations open to the school and community at large.
The format is centered on storytelling and direct interaction rather than passive observation. By encouraging students to share authentic aspects of their home cultures, the event creates space for genuine exchange that fosters lasting cultural appreciation and understanding among students, staff, and the entire community.
Spooner High School | Wisconsin
Spooner High School students will participate in an 11-day educational tour through Italy, Germany, and the Czech Republic, exploring history, art, language, and culture through immersive travel experiences.
The tour is designed to help students develop greater openness and empathy for people from different cultural backgrounds—and to bring that perspective back to their school community when they return. Participating students will share their experiences with peers, expanding the impact of the trip beyond those who travel.
Is your high school interested in supporting international education? Connect with Academic Year in America to learn how we can help!
Each of these ten schools looked at the presence of international students in their community and asked how to build on it, how to extend that learning outward and give more students a window into the wider world. At the surface, these projects support international education and exchange, but their impacts go far beyond that—creating ripples that inspire even more international learning and cultural empathy.
AYA and the AIFS Foundation thank every school that participated, along with the hundreds of high schools across the U.S. that welcome exchange students every year. Your dedication to cultural exchange creates a more interconnected and understanding world.
Congratulations to all ten recipients of this year’s Tony Cook Memorial Grant—we can’t wait to see what you build!
Interested in supporting international education with AYA like these schools did?
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