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Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
June 7, 2004

International High School Students in Washington, D.C. to Conclude Inaugural Year of Partnership for Learning Youth Exchange and Study (P4L-YES) Program

The U.S. Department of State welcomes to Washington students who are concluding a year of academic study at high schools in the United States. Approximately 60 students, who have been living with families in 20 states across the nation, are in Washington, D.C., for activities to wrap up the first year of the Partnerships for Learning, Youth Exchange and Study program (P4L-YES). For most of the students, this is their first visit to the capital.

This group is a portion of the 160 students who have participated in the first year of the P4L-YES program. The Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) sponsors P4L-YES to provide scholarships for secondary school students from countries with significant Muslim populations to spend up to one academic year in the United States. This is the first government sponsored high school exchange program comprising students from such countries, including students from Nigeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan, West Bank/Gaza, Egypt, Kuwait, Malaysia, Syria, Yemen, Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia. The P4L-YES program is part of the larger Partnerships for Learning (P4L) initiative undertaken by the Department of State to reach out to younger audiences. Other programs under the P4L initiative include a new undergraduate program ("PLUS") and the CultureConnect program, which features American cultural leaders traveling abroad to meet with and mentor youth.

During their academic year in the United States, the P4L-YES students attended American high schools and lived with American host families across the country. In the second year of the program, the number of participating students will increase to over 400 students, including students from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, India, Iraq, Morocco, Oman, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and the Arab community in Israel.

The students' program in Washington, organized by the Close-Up Foundation, a key State Department exchange contractor, will focus on leadership development, civic education, and the role of the media. At the State Department, the students will meet with Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Patricia Harrison and other senior Department of State officials. On Capitol Hill, the students will meet with Senator Richard G. Lugar (R-Indiana) and Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts).

The P4L-YES participants are among more than 30,000 individuals who participate in U.S. Department of State exchange programs each year. For more information about this program or other Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs exchanges, contact Adam Meier, (202) 203-7026, or visit http://exchanges.state.gov.

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