Changing People’s Minds One Person at a Time
Just some beginning of the week thoughts … The National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program is an exchange program managed and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. I wanted to mention this short post from a young woman who spent Summer 2017 in South Korea through the NSLI-Y program. As she says: […]
Looking for a New Hope? Become an Exchange Student or a Host Family
The Stars Wars saga has been used to explain society, culture, and political trends. Some have argued that it may represent a statement about our cultural values and show the power of myths and storytelling. Today, on Star Wars Day, I read one article observing that “fake news” gave rise to the Galactic Empire and […]
The Study Abroad Solution: We Need More, But It’s Not an Answer to All Things
In early 2016, Dr. Sanford Ungar published a provocative article in Foreign Affairs, “The Study Abroad Solution: How to Open the American Mind.” I looked forward to hearing what Dr. Ungar (former president of Goucher College and a key proponent of study abroad as a requirement for college graduation) had to say. I re-read the […]
International Education Week 2016
Today is the beginning of International Education Week 2016, an annual joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to talk about the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide. To help kick off International Education Week, the Institute of International Education (IIE) released its annual Open Doors Report […]
A Student’s Question: Should I be an Exchange Student?
The real question “is not whether you should do an exchange year or not, because you should. Everyone should. … The real question is, when should you do an exchange?” 6 Reasons Why You Should Do An Exchange While Still in High School (Nationality Unknown, Dec. 2014) Yes. If you can make it happen, you […]
Sending Your Teenager to Turkey on Exchange: This Family Says Yes
I wanted to share an article that appeared in our local paper, The Oregonian, today: Exchange Student Heads to Turkey With Open Mind The article has so many valid points about why international cultural exchanges are valuable, perhaps even more today than ever before. It’s not just about an American teenager learning about a culture […]