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NEWSLETTERJUNE 2009
Hosting News
Now
is the time to make a difference…..
You can
change the world right from your own home!
Host an AFS Exchangestudent!
How would you like to have a sibling, son or daughter from France, Turkey,Denmark Spain or another far off place? One of the best ways to appreciate thisamazing world of ours is discovering its many peoples and cultures. What betterway to experience that than to share your family with a High School " Ambassador" from another land! AFS host families provide a bed (host siblings can share aroom), meals, and transportation to school, and welcome the exchange student as amember of your family. The AFS network of volunteers provides your family and theexchange student with orientations, relevant materials, and support throughout youryear.The Colombia Pacific team has been building an amazing family of internationalstudents for the 2009-10 Hosting year! Coming this fall, 44+ students will be landinginto their new families and life-changing experiences. As of this publishing there are 27 students linked to fantasticfamilies, but that still leaves 17 to 24 wonderful kids yet to be placed.Even with the state of the economy and many budgeting changes for all, we have found that there are still manyfamilies that have a true heart for the mission of AFS and the impact it has on the world. Folks who have a desire for thisare making it happen all over the nation. Actually, our NW region is nearly the top placing region in the nation right now!!Dozens of NW families are ready to invite a student into their home to share their lives and change the world.
Do youknow that family?!
Can you think of people you know in your life circles – home, work, church, or community group?Perhaps your Synagogue, book club, school parents, yoga class or gardening group? Many schools prefer to work withAFS and our outstanding volunteer network, but the available school spots are closing very soon! The extensive AFSnetwork of host families, returnees, and dedicated volunteers continues to be an invaluable resource of connecting withlike-minded folks. Won’t you share the mission and make a world impact? Please take a look at the pullout in thisnewsletter featuring the students that are still available. I’m certain there is a student that’s meant to be with a family youknow and love. It could be you!It continues to be my honor to support and assist the Colombia Pacific team in placing these awesome students.Here’s to continuing the hosting recruitment with a passion and bringing the world to Oregon and SouthwestWashington!
Caren Marre – AFS Western Regional Hosting Coordinator
Congress
‐
Bundestag
(CB):
The
congress
‐
Bundestag
Youth
exchange
Program
was
launched
in
1983
by
the
U.S.
Congress
and
the
German
parliament
(Bundestag).
Annually,
AFS
provides
50
full
merit
‐
based
scholarships
for
U.S.
students
to
study
in
Germany
for
a
year,
and
57
scholarships
for
German
participants
to
study
in
the
U.S.
http://usagermanyscholarship.org
Future
Leaders
Exchange
(FLEX):
The
Future
Leaders
Exchange
program
originated
in
the
FREEDOM
Support
Act,
which
was
sponsored
by
U.S.
Senator
Bill
Bradley
and
passed
by
Congress
in
1992.
It
provides
full
merit
‐
based
scholarships
to
students
from
the
countries
of
the
former
Soviet
Union
to
study
abroad
in
the
U.S.
for
a
year.
http://exchanges.state.gov/youth/ programs/flex
Youth
Exchange
and
Study
Program
(YES):
The
Youth
Exchange
and
Study
Program
was
initiated
by
the
U.S.
Department
of
State
in
the
aftermath
of
September
11th
to
build
bridges
of
understanding
between
Americans
and
people
in
countries
with
significant
Muslim
populations.
YES
provides
full
merit
‐
based
scholarships
to
students
from
more
than
10
countries
to
study
abroad
in
the
U.S.
for
a
year.
http://yesprograms.org
AFS—USA PUBLIC DIPLOMACY INITIATIVES
COLUMBIA PACIFIC AREA TEAM CHAIR REPORT
2
THE CHAIR REPORT—Bonnie Richardson-Kott
It’s hard to believe that the school year is already at its end.And now my term as Chair of Columbia Pacific Area Team iscoming to an end. I believe with all endings arise great newbeginnings. Host Dad, Group Leader, Liaison Coordinator,Website Creator, Chair-Elect (Super Volunteer) James Spears willbe stepping in to become the new Chair of our Team. Hisexperience with AFS and his outstanding leadership skills will beinvaluable to our Team as we change and grow and strive to makethe experience of every student the best it can be.While students and families will be scrambling to accomplishlast minute shopping, sight-seeing cramming, and preparations forgetting those bags within the increasingly restrictive weight limits,James will be gearing up and planning our Team’s futuresuccesses and leadership. As a host dad to Philip, he and hiswife Tami will be there with all of you, saying goodbye to their son.It’ll be heart wrenching and emotional and terribly hard to do. ButJames and Tami know that the goodbye isn’t an ending; it’s thebeginning of a lifetime friendship with Philip. No matter what rolewe serve in our organization, as volunteers dedicated to themission of AFS, we will always be part of AFS and therelationships we have developed will continue on. I’m thankful I’vemade so many wonderful friends volunteering with AFS, and I’mlooking forward to continuing to do my part in supporting James ashe leads our Team of volunteers into being the best Team in thecountry (no pressure, James!)
Bonnie Richardson-Kott, Columbia Pacific Area Team Chair
NEW AREA TEAM CHAIR—James Spears
I don't think I can adequately express how grateful I am to be apart of the AFS family. I have been blessed with the friendship ofmany selfless volunteers, generous host families, and amazingexchange students and teachers. With no kids of our own, mywife, Tami, and I decided to look into hosting with AFS early in2006. Southeast Portland Cluster Leader Bernice Schuchardtshowed up at our doorstep a few days after we filled out a HostFamily Interest Form on the AFS web site and got us started onthis fulfilling journey. That first year, we hosted
Chloé
from France,and it was a learning experience for all of us. We learned to beparents as well as Host Parents, and
Chloé
grew up in so manyways. After a move from Sandy to McMinnville during the 07/08school year, we hosted Tomomi from Japan for her last five weeksin the US, and our only regret was that we couldn't have had herwith us for longer. This school year, it has been Philip fromGermany, a loving and thoughtful kid who has turned into a moreself-confident and mature young man during his year inAmerica. It's always sad to see them go, but I know we couldn'thave all of the good times without that inevitable Departure Daythat's coming up in a few weeks.Besides Philip, I've taken a group of nine students under mywing as an orientation group leader this year. I met these ninebrave individuals shortly after they arrived and before they wenthome for the first time with their new host families. I've beenfortunate to get together with these students at the variousorientations throughout the year and talk about their challengesand successes.And I have gotten to know many of the other exchangestudents this year as a chaperon/driver on some Area Teamoutings. I'll always enjoy the "Let 'er Buck" video (it's on the areateam web site at
www.afscp.com/pictures.html)
and think backon the fun we had at the Pendleton Round-Up. I'll alwaysremember the collective gasp the students let out when the ownerof Shreiner Farms in the Columbia River Gorge pulled a babywallaroo from his backpack during our tour of his exotic animalfarm. And I'll always cherish the evening I spent with a group ofstudents analyzing the play we had just seen at the ShakespeareFestival. They're a great group of mature young adults, and I'mexcited about the difference they're going to make in the world.I deeply believe in the AFS mission of a more just and peacefulworld through intercultural exchange. We're definitely all making adifference in the world through our efforts. Thanks to all of you(volunteers, host families, exchange teachers, and exchangestudents) for making this year such a great year for all of us. I'mexcited about the hosting year we have ahead of us, and the AreaTeam and I are looking forward to providing whatever support wecan to ensure a great year for you and your students.
James Spears, Host Dad and New Columbia Pacific Area Team Chair
3
VOLUNTEER NEWS/DEVELOPMENT
Spring is a busy timewith AFS volunteers! Thehosting workshop, the lastweek of February startedus off with a bang. We hada great, well-attended,hosting volunteer trainingwith Caren Marré and KathiKosik, from staff; joiningour new co-hosting coordinators, AndreaJohnson and Stacey Mills to bring us all theinfo from the national hosting training thattook place in February. Andrea Johnsonwas able to attend that and came backenergized and ready to go. Lots of changesand new electronics to get used to but we’regetting there! And we have been marchingforward with hosting since then. Staceyand Andrea have slipped in to their newroles quite amazingly well and we are sograteful for their enthusiasm andefficiency—watch for their hosting report.March was a lion of a month for AFSvolunteer activity. Rymmel Lovell, ourChapter Chair in The Dalles, was able toattend the National Sponsored ProgramWorkshop and bring back all the updates tous. If you want to know about the latestplans for the federally funded scholarshipprograms, YES. FLEX, NSLI and CongressBundestag -- check in with Rymmel!The National Strategic LanguageInitiative (NSLI well that’s a mouthful), sortof snuck up on us this spring! So amarvelous effort from many volunteers andstaff rallied the volunteer troops to conducta marathon interview session for the 26Columbia Pacific Candidates who hadapplied. With all the great help, it came offwithout a hitch and we are happy toannounce AFS was awarded three of thefull-ride scholarships for Cooper Thomasheaded to Turkey for the summer; SahalieClapp who is headed to Turkey for the fullyear program; and Jessica Harn, who willgo to China for winter semester.Congratulations to these three students.We are thrilled with their success!Then of course we had our wonderfulVolunteer Recognition event that was verywell-planned and executed by Tami Spears,Bernie Gerhardt, Leta Gorman and RonCombs. It was a wonderful event!And the monumental effort of corralling50 exchange students, several host parentsand 30 American Abroad candidates andtheir parents for our combined Pre-Departure and Pre-return Orientation. Ourteam should be proud of the volunteerefforts that go into our orientations. RonCombs and Lynette Ledgerwood are to becommended for their tremendous effort inpulling all those volunteers and logisticstogether for a seamless event. Thanks toall the group leaders, the behind-the-sceneworker bees and trainers who made thisMay event a great success!
Promoting AFS and our Mission –
Volunteers have been busy and willcontinue to do community outreach throughinformation-table sitting, school open-houses, Farmer’s Markets booth-sitting andCommunity Fairs—spreading the word andmission any way we can. If you would liketo booth sit or set up a site of your own, letus know and we’ll be happy to providematerials to post and to hand out. This isfor Hosting, Sending and Volunteerrecruitment—the more we speak themission the more will share our joy!
Tigard High School InformationTable -
Andrea Johnson and MariaCarlotta Groppi from Italy at Tigard HighSchool sat at an information table atCarlotta’s high school, in April. Lots ofpeople stopped by to say hello to Carlotta—many people were surprised to learn shewas an exchange student—speak themission every day!
The Longview-Kelso ChapterCommunity Outreach -
The Longview-Kelso Chapter will be booth-sitting andcommunity networking for AFS at the LowerColumbia Community College InternationalFair on Saturday June 6
th
.
Tan
,
fromThailand will be making bookmarks for thechildren with their names written in Thai;
Nazumi
from
Japan will be teachingOrigami to the visiting children and
Emy
from
Italy will be sharing dance and music.This promises to be a lively culture-share.Way to go Longview-Kelso! Great job,Debbie Erickson! The office is happy toprovide materials and flyers for this type ofactivity. It is a way to get the AFS name outthere and hopefully recruit some newfamilies and find some long-lost returnees(new volunteers, yea!) If you would like tosit at an information table at Farmer’sMarket or one of the communitycelebrations this summer, please contactyour local coordinator or one of the AreaTeam Leaders. We’ll be happy to assistanyway we can.
Calling all liaisons and aunt-unclefamilies! -
Time to round up volunteers forthis coming year! As AFS strives tobecome more compliant with CSIET andState Department Guidelines, we aremaking a concerted effort to contact ournew liaisons early, so we can get themconnected and trained. We must improveour reporting and contact documentationand the best way to get ‘buy-in’ is to explainthe process and necessity of complianceand get new volunteers committed to themission. If you know someone who wouldmake a great liaison or aunt-uncle family,please encourage them to sign up. It’s agreat “entry-level” volunteer activity and wedo back it up with support and training, aswell as experienced volunteers to supportyou every step of the way.. James Spearshas created a great web link on our localwebsite
www.afscp.com.
Check out hiswonderful Liaison link:
http://www.afscp.com/liaisons.html
AFS Wiki Tutorial now availablethrough our local website!
As you may know, AFS Online Library is nomore. AFS has moved toward a muchmore dynamic, living information resourcethat even you can contribute to, if you areso inclined. This is the replacement for theAFS News that used to come to us throughAFS Online. Important messages tovolunteers about our organization; changesin process; emergency notices—they are allto be found at
www.afswiki.org
Check itout—everything you ever wanted to knowabout how AFS works and a greatPowerPoint Tutorial to get you started:
http://www.afswiki.org/index.php/Accessing_Information_on_AFS_Wiki
Sally Ann Wells, Volunteer Coordinator
CONGRATULATIONS
- Newest AFS Volunteer -
Congratulations to Anouxa and Michele Vixathep on the birth of their little girl,Sophia Claire. Sophia was born on Monday, March 16, weighing in at 7 lbs., 3ozs. and was 21 inches long. Michele is liaison to Mark from Hungary. Mark andhis host family, the Gardners, have already paid a visit to little Sophia.
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