exchanges

Anna, a photography major at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology (OSUIT) had always been interested in learning about the lives of international students and their experiences in the US. When she bumped into Umaira, a Global UGRAD-Pakistan participant, on the OSUIT campus, she jumped at the opportunity to interview her.

I am pleased to share with you an excerpt from the written testimony I recently submitted to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs in support of the Department of State exchanges budget. Even in this current budget environment, it is critical to continue to invest in these programs which bring manifold benefits to US taxpayers.

Annie Curran is a senior at Annandale High School and the Editor-in-Chief of its newspaper. This past summer, she and five other Annandale students traveled to Lanzhou, China, to participate in an IREX journalism program with 100 of their Chinese peers.

My high school is extremely diverse, which has afforded me the opportunity to learn about a variety of different cultures. I had never traveled out of the country, which is why I was so excited about this opportunity.

I grew up in the heartland of America listening to rhetoric about the “Evil Empire” and the nuclear arms race. My school didn’t have a globalized curriculum; the student body was not diverse. Yet, I was compelled to learn more about the world; to make it a better place. My story is not unique.

In celebration of International Education Week, Betsy Engebretson provides an IREX Russia perspective on the value of studying abroad and the changes she has witnessed working with international students. 

Language transcends borders. That’s why I began studying Arabic six years ago.

But when I met with female activists in a café in Fez yesterday, we used three (plus) languages to discuss challenges facing youth in Morocco. I asked questions in classical Arabic or fus-ha, and they answered in French with interludes in the local Moroccan dialect — an amalgam of Berber, fus-ha, and French. I summarized in fus-ha what I had pieced together, and they confirmed my accuracy with nods and giggles.

IREX welcomes the observance of International Education Week, November 15-19, a joint initiative of the US Department of State and the US Department of Education. International Education Week celebrates the benefits of international education and exchanges worldwide.