AFS Exchange Program
Plum has been involved with the AFS (American Field Service)
Exchange Program for many years! Through the years, Plum families have
hosted students from all over the world, and Plum has provided its own
students the opportunity to be exchange students in countries such as
Italy, Argentina, and Germany, to name a few.
Explore the World!
Open your world to endless possibilities by living and learning in
another country! Consider becoming an exchange student. Choose from more
than 120 programs in over 40 countries for a yearlong or semester trip.
Scholarships and financial aid are available to assist in funding your
trip. Visit www.afs.org/usa for more information or for directions on
how to apply.
Experience the World - Without Leaving Home!
The Plum AFS Chapter is currently seeking host families for the
school year. If you are interested in hosting a foreign exchange
student, please contact Kathy Harenski at [email protected] or by phone at 412-848-3952 for
more information. Many students will need to be placed with host
families across Western Pennsylvania for the next school year. Please
open the following documents for specific details:
Host Family Information
Ever wonder what you
can do to help change the world, beginning with life in your own
community? By opening your home and sharing your family with a high
school student from another country, you can help to build bridges of
intercultural understanding at a time when the world really needs it.
This year, more than 2,800 young people from 60 countries will arrive
in the U.S. to study for 11 months in communities across the country.
They also come for 6 month semester stay. Enjoying daily family life,
meals together, activities like going to the movies and in general
having fun, will help to make a World of Difference to a young visitor
who is eager to experience what it’s like to live as a member of a
family, school, and community in the U.S.
Host families provide a bed and meals,
and the same guidance and support to students as they would to their
own son or daughter. Host families and students receive support from
local AFS Volunteers. Host families ARE NOT required to
provide the student with clothing or medical coverage as each student
will be responsible for his or her own clothes items and AFS provides
medical coverage for each student.
Host an AFS Exchange Student and build bridges of intercultural
understanding. It’s a gift you’ll give and receive. Most families have
no idea how much they’ll gain until they say yes! To learn more, call
1-800-876-2377 or email [email protected]. You can also complete a hosting interest form at www.usa.afs.org.
AFS ‘aunts’, ‘uncles’ are also needed, as well as liaisons who
volunteer to meet monthly with host families and their students. Call
AFS for details or local representatives:
Brad Migitsch @ 412-793-5318 email: [email protected]
Geroge Arvay @ 412-828-6413 email: [email protected]
AFS HISTORY
AFS Intercultural Programs (formerly the American Field Service) is a
worldwide, nonprofit organization that has been a leader in high school
student exchange for 60 years. During World Wars I & II, young
Americans volunteered as ambulance drivers in the American Field Service
evacuating the wounded from battlefields. When these brave, forward
thinking individuals returned home, they founded a movement to promote
understanding and peace through international student exchanges, known
today as AFS Intercultural Programs. The AFS Founders believed-as AFS
believes today-that the way to build a more just and peaceful world
begins when people from different countries and cultures meet, learn
together, and better understand one another. In 1947, for the first time
ever, AFS exchanged 52 young people from 11 countries formerly at war, establishing a legacy of hope for future generations.
Today, AFS exchanges more than 11,000 students each year among a partnership of more than 50 AFS Partner Countries. AFS proudly acknowledges an alumni network of more than 300,000 individuals
who have studied abroad on an AFS Program. Former AFS Students live in
more than 100 countries around the world. As one of the largest
volunteer-based organizations of its kind, AFS has 30,000 volunteers
worldwide and approximately 5,000 in the U.S.
For more information about the AFS Program, please visit www.usa.afs.org