AFS One Classroom Initiative conducted virtual exchanges of schools in China with schools in Brazil and Czech Republic throughout June. Eighty students and teachers participated in meaningful cross-border classroom-to-classroom dialoguediscussing national histories, school systems and everyday life. AFS One Classroom Initative is an AFS China program that equips young people, teachers and school leaders with global competence skills using virtual technology and structured intercultural learning activities to expand access to intercultural education to more teens.
Leveraging our expertise in intercultural learning, accumulated and fine-tuned over 70+ years of running intercultural educational programs, AFS China is leading the The AFS One Classroom Initiative. The AFS One Classroom Initiative is a pilot project that will link schools in 13 countries using virtual technology and structured learning to include: online classroom teaching and learning exchanges, educational program training for teachers and students, educational delegation visits, and youth leaders exchange. Through the pilot initiative alone, AFS expects to reach 1,000 students, teachers, and school leaders in Year 1.
More than 100 AFS students, host families, volunteers, alumni and staff walked in the New York City Pride parade in support of LGBTQ students who are still underrepresented in study abroad and exchange programs.The Parade was organized in honor of the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots, a milestone event on the gay rights liberation movement. AFS showcased our values of diversity and inclusion. See more photos and videos from the #PrideAcrossCultures march.
AFS Colombia conducted intercultural learning activities for 67 children and 60 adults in the Andressen Refugee Center, which hosts families affected by the Venezuela crisis. AFS exchange students from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, France, and Thailand together with 14 volunteers provided community service to support the refugees adapt to the new intercultural interactions they face. Community service is integrated into AFS study abroad programs for high school students, helping them become active global citizens involved in tackling local and global challenges. Thanks to the partnership between AFS and the Comfanorte School, at the end of the day, food and other donations, collected by the school and AFS were distributed.
“From D-Day to a More Just and Peaceful World: 75 Years and the American Field Service (AFS)” was the theme of a Forum presented at Princeton University on May 31 during Princeton’s annual reunion. The event, sponsored by the Princeton Office of International Programs and Novogratz Bridge Year Program and AFS-USA, attracted more than 55 individuals, most of whom were Princeton Alumni and AFS-USA Alumni, ranging in AFS departure years from the 1950’s to the 2,000’s!
This was the largest AFS-USA university affinity event to-date. The Forum featured a prestigious panel that included: Ambassador Daniel (ret.) Feldman, former U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, AFS-USA Returnee; Lt. Colonel Kevin McKiernan, U.S. Army Military Intelligence; and Ambassador Frederico Duque Estrada Meyer, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN and AFS Returnee Brazil to U.S. The panelists presented their thoughts on topics such as, “Are we continuing to move towards a more peaceful world, are we treading water, or have we entered into a more dangerous phase in world history, and why do you think so?” Lt. Colonel McKiernan turned to the topic of optimism and said, “I speak only for myself and not the Army of course, but I believe in the resiliency of the optimism of our people… We are losing the things that bring us together which is one of the reasons why AFS and organizations like it are so important.”