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| Last updated on July 25, 2008 |
Mission Statement
AYUSA promotes international understanding and leadership through youth exchange programs. We offer a unique, richly personal experience for students, volunteer families, host high schools and local communities. AYUSA reaches across interpersonal and international borders, celebrating worldwide community through the spirit, character and promise of our youth.
Description:
INTRODUCTION to AYUSA
What is AYUSA?
AYUSA stands for Academic Year in the USA. We are a non-profit 501.c.3 educational and cultural organization dedicated to promoting peace and personal growth through international exchange. We offer students aged 15 to 18 the opportunity to live with volunteer host families and to study in local high schools for an academic year or semester. Since 1980, AYUSA has provided opportunities for more than 37,000 students from the U.S. and around the world to live and study through our programs.
What Is AYUSA’s Mission?
It is our belief that exchange offers a unique, richly personal experience for our students, volunteer families, members of host high schools and local communities around the world. Collectively, the AYUSA family reaches across interpersonal and international borders and celebrates worldwide community through the spirit, character and promise of our youth.
Overseas Partners
Through an extensive network of international staff and affiliates (AYUSA has over 40 different international partners), students are screened and prepared for their exchange experience. Selection criteria include: English proficiency, above-average academic performance, well-rounded interests, and evidence of maturity and adaptability.
San Francisco Staff
The team in San Francisco is responsible for selecting, training and supporting our overseas partners. The team is also responsible for program administration, including student admissions. All applications are mailed to the San Francisco office for processing and distribution. The San Francisco staff is composed of a highly dedicated team of people who are committed to supporting our field staff in their work.
AYUSA Field Staff
AYUSA maintains nine regional offices throughout the US, each headed by a full-time Regional Manager (RM), supported by a Regional Manager Assistant (RMA). The RMs are also supported by a team of part-time Regional Directors (RDs) and Community Representatives (CRs) who recruit, interview, select, and orient host families and serve as liaisons for students, schools, and host families.
AYUSA was first designated by the DOS in 1982.
What is the Council of Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET)?
The Council of Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET) is a membership-based, non-profit organization located in Alexandria, VA.
AYUSA is a founding member of CSIET and was recognized in 2004 as one of only five exchange programs which have received full listing (which essentially means full approval) with CSIET continuously since its inception.
Why Work with AYUSA?
Student Diversity - AYUSA brings in students from over 75 countries around the world, more than any other high school youth exchange program. This diversity gives our families and communities wonderful exposure to the world around them.
Diversity of Programs – With many different programs and scholarships, there are numerous ways that we can give back to our local communities. For example, we have a hosting scholarship of $500.00 that can be utilized by a host sibling to participate in an AYUSA outbound program.
Quality of Program – One indicator of AYUSA’s quality is our success with applying for U.S. Department of State funding. AYUSA has been requested to implement every important United States government youth exchange program available to date and has taken leadership roles in doing so. AYUSA is the largest recipient of DOS funding for U.S. based high school exchange programs. These selective programs allow us to bring in the highest caliber students. These programs are tightly monitored by the DOS, and only the highest quality programs are approved for grant awards year after year.
Quality of Materials and Resources - AYUSA’s training program is consistently recognized as superior by youth exchange officials from the U.S. Department of State. We invest tremendous resources in materials to inform and empower our partners. The AYUSA website and “Meet Our Students” function is an example of an innovative tool to support smooth operations, as well as provide high quality service to our host families. In 2004, we launched a new database (NEMO) to allow all of our field staff immediate access to student and host family information. This robust system is an example of a “cutting edge” operational initiative and our commitment to investing resources in the long-term development and strength of the organization. Some organizations may choose to invest more in staff incentives. While we do offer incentives, we believe strongly in investing in tools to elevate the quality of the program and our service to participants, host families, and schools.
Quality of Support - The AYUSA Regional Manager team is an experienced, professional and talented group of leaders. With support from the San Francisco office, they provide close supervision and support to our local field staff.
Commitment to the Community – AYUSA is one of the few exchange organizations that strongly encourages its exchange students to participate in a community service project. This is a unique opportunity for students from another culture to learn about the concept of “volunteerism” - a concept that is truly a part of America culture. AYUSA values community service as a cornerstone of the American way of life and, consequently, integrates service components into the exchange experience. It is important to make the point to host families and to schools that we are giving back to the community through these service projects.
History:
What Is AYUSA’s History?
AYUSA International was founded in 1980 by John Wilhelm and Takeshi Yokota who, after many years of experience in the international citizen exchange field, saw the need for a new approach to high school exchange. AYUSA International was founded under the name Pacific American International Student Services. The name was officially changed to AYUSA International in 1984.
Since our beginning in 1980 with the placement of thirty Japanese students, AYUSA has grown to become one of the premier student exchange organizations and is widely recognized around the world.
More than 37,000 international and American students have participated on AYUSA programs since 1980.
The program now serves 2,000 inbound academic year students from over 75 countries around the world.
AYUSA is now the 3rd largest high school youth exchange program in the United States. For perspective, there were almost 28,000 inbound high school students to the United States in 2005 across all exchange programs.
Contact person: Linda Goodness, (phone), (email)
Address:
Web Site: http://www.ayusa.org
Directions:
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