Youth Programs Highlights

The U.S. State Department's high school promote mutual understanding between nations by empowering young people and enriching their lives through education, community service, and leadership development.

International exchange participants have such a wide variety of experience that we wanted to highlights some of their stories through image and sound.

These Brazilian Youth Ambassadors were selected for a three-week exchange to the United States. They first arrived in Washington, D.C. where they toured many sites and even met First Lady Michelle Obama. The students then traveled to cities across the country to live with a host family attend a U.S. high school and participate in community service projects.

American students studying in Russia as part of the National Security Language Initiative for Youth took a break from intensive language classes for some cultural immersion at distinct locations such as St. Basil's Cathedral and other cultural and historical sites.

These high school students are part of a growing participants in the program which awards full, merit-based scholarships to study seven, critical languages overseas to study seven, critical languages abroad.

These Youth Exchange and Study students celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the Washington, D.C. area. Wearing their native dress, the group spoke to a crowd of 500 people about the importance of peace and understanding.

These students from countries with significant Muslim populations are living with American host families and studying for up to one year at an American high school.

 

Students in Massachusetts recently chatted with a sister school in Afghanistan over Skype. Both groups took turns asking about one another's lives. The students are linked through a program called Global Connections and Exchange which provides teachers and students specialized training and facilitates, interactive, online projects with their international peers.

These are a few highlights of the many experiences that students are having right now as part of their State Department sponsored international exchange program.