- One Reason #WhyHostingMatters: Volunteerism Makes Communities StrongerThe Huffington Post US Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Evan Ryan believes hosting is more than welcoming an international exchange student to your home it's the first step toward strengthening a community. Students from the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) and the American-Serbia and Montenegro Youth Leadership Exchange (A-SMYLE) contributed a combined 4,000 hours of community service across… Read More
- Community and faith-based leaders from around the world came together to share insights on how interfaith relations can encourage peace and mutual understanding at the International Forum on Religion and Peace in Batumi, Georgia. Social Inclusivity in Georgia With the country's history of ethnic conflict in the 1990s, Georgia was a meaningful place to hold the Forum. While ethnic Georgians make up around 84 percent of the population, there are large minority Armenian (5 percent) and… Read More
- "I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." Sona exhaled, as she read aloud that final passage of Robert Frost's famous poem The Road Not Taken. Her nerves started to relax as she realized she had just recited an entire poem in a completely foreign language. Like most Armenian teenagers, reciting works of poetry isn't an everyday activity for Sona but here… Read More
- America's Lacking Language SkillsThe Atlantic Just seven percent of American college students are enrolled in a language course and 95 percent of these enrollments are in European languages like French or German, despite an increasing demand for fluency in non-Western languages. Through alarming statistics and anecdotal evidence, journalist Amelia Friedman describes the current state of decay of language education in the United States. Why Global Competence Matters: It's Not Really a Small… Read More
- American Councils is proud to announce that as a new administrator of the YSEALI Professional Fellows Program, the organization has expanded into 10 new countries in Southeast Asia to provide emerging economic empowerment leaders with substantive professional fellowship opportunities in the United States.To build on the leadership capabilities of youth in the region, young leaders from across Southeast Asia focused on economic empowerment will have access to fellowships in the USAs part of the… Read More
- A representative from nearly every generation of the American-Serbian and Montenegrin Youth Leadership Exchange program (A-SMYLE) recently gathered to mark a decade of an alumni network that continues to grow and focus on serving their communities. United by the experience of living with a host family, attending high school, and developing leadership skills in the US, the group of 24 friends and colleagues spent a weekend volunteering at a local history museum in Sirogojno, Serbia and… Read More
- American Councils for International Education and the Taiwan Ministry of Education took an important step towards deepening academic cooperation between Taiwan and the United States and promoting economic and social development in both countries. In a formal agreement signed by the Taiwan Ministry of Education's Director General Dr. Ming-Ling Yang and American Councils President Dr. Dan E. Davidson during the NAFSA annual conference, both parties outlined their dedication to preparing the next… Read More
- Stray dogs are a common sight in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The large number of dogs without homes makes it particularly difficult for the local government to provide shelter for all, with estimates putting the stray dog population close to 11,000.American high school students living in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of the YES Abroad high school exchange year joined forces with young Bosnians from the YES alumni network to raise money for a local dog shelter in… Read More
- After hiring three international exchange alumni in less than a year, Djordje Petkovic, CEO of Peaksel, a Serbian app development company, wrote a letter to American Councils expressing his unwavering support for the continuation of the A-SMYLE program and international exchange programs for young Serbians.April 20th, 2015Dear American Councils,My name is Djordje Petkovic. I am the CEO of a mobile games and apps development company Peaksel D.O.O. in Nis, Serbia. I am writing this letter in… Read More
- A trash-strewn public playground gets a makeover. A museum expands the reach of its artwork online by installing an Internet connection. A historical site gains a sewage system. These aren't random instances of good fortune, but collective acts of goodwill conducted by a group of young Ukrainian adults wearing bright yellow t-shirts. The group's yellow t-shirts read "Help and Travel," an organization with a bold vision: HELP build a network of community-minded individuals to encourage social… Read More
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