teens with globe
By the time local teens reach high school, Naples can feel like a small town. High school is a great time to try a study abroad program or welcome a foreign teen student into your own Neapolitan family to experience a new culture and build a lasting relationship.
Many high schools in Collier County offer a variety of opportunities for students to spread their wings in another country. Students also can participate in a national program on their own.
AFS-USA is a national intercultural program that offers teens age 15 through 18 years old the opportunity to study abroad for a semester or year in a full educational immersion program, or a summer program which focuses on language immersion, community service and cultural awareness. This program, which has been organizing study experiences for over 65 years, sends more than 1100 students abroad and welcomes 2300 international students into American homes each year. The all-inclusive program has some financial aid and merit scholarships available so any qualified student can participate.
School Year Abroad (SYA) is a similar study abroad program for high school juniors and seniors in select European and Chinese cities where the organization operates its own schools rather than having students attend traditional local schools.
The Naples Council on World Affairs (NCWA), a nonprofit group whose mission is to educate citizens on global issues, helps to send area high school students on summer experiences through two study/service programs: The Experiment in International Living and The Student Diplomacy Corp. Last summer, NCWA awarded an international experience to eleven student applicants from five Collier County public high schools, Community School of Naples and Seacrest Country Day School. When participants return, they are asked to write about their experiences.
Golden Gate High School student Hannah Seitz traveled to Tanzania where she lived with a host family and followed all of their routines. In her essay describing her trip, Seitz writes how she learned that charity abroad is not always welcome if it is not needed. For example, Americans hear that malaria is a problem so they send mosquito nets without thinking about the villagers who are selling nets also. “Once we give them mosquito nets,” Seitz explains, “it will not be necessary for the people to buy from local vendors, making them go out of business.”
Johann Charelus, a Lely high school student who traveled to Botswana, describes how his host family embraced him as one of their own. He also was relieved to find that they knew some English. “It was reassuring to know that I could learn the cultural language while simultaneously (being) capable of having meaningful conversations in a shared language.”
Sea Crest Country Day School student Cameron Buxton traveled to Mongolia. Part of her trip was spent painting elementary schools and preparing English tests and cataloging English libraries for the students. She soon found out that that pickled cabbage would be a part of her every meal because the host families were instructed to make sure the students were offered plenty of vegetables.
In January, Community School of Naples (CSN) welcomed sixteen students from the American School of Valencia (ASV) from Spain. As part of CSN’s own Global Exchange program, the visiting students lived with a host family, attended CSN classes and visited area attractions. In return, ASV will return the hospitality by hosting ten CSN middle and high school students and two faculty members in March. Last September fifteen CSN students went to St. Stephens School in Rome; In March, the students from Rome will come to Naples.
Neus Forner, Marta Ortiz-Cañavate, Patricia Portilla and Nikita Parfenov were four of the Valencia students who came to CSN. Besides attending school at CSN, host families kept the students busy with weekend trips to the beach, boating, sporting events and ice-skating. Neus’ host family even whisked her off to Universal Orlando, where the self-proclaimed Harry Potter fan got to experience the world of the wizard. Neus, an only child, enjoyed being part of a family with five kids and four dogs.
Three of the students who studied in Rome last fall, Zannos Grekos, Brendan Miles and Chris Childs all agreed that they liked having free time in Italy to immerse themselves in Italian culture and noted that the food seemed “fresher” and “tasted better there.” Chris felt he benefited from the trip because being separated from his family and from his classmates forced him to be more outgoing and independent.
The one experience that the Valencia students all agreed on was their first experience with Chik-fil-a. “I love it,” Patricia gushed. “I’m going again this afternoon.”
Stacy Nicolau is the assistant publisher of Neapolitan Family. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Stacy is the mother of 3 children attending Collier County public schools.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
AFS-USA: Summer, semester or full year programs and provides support to American host families. www.afsusa.org/about-afs
The Experiment in International Living: Provides 3, 4, or 5-week summer programs for students who want to connect deeply with another culture. www.experiment.org
The Naples Council on World Affairs: Helps to provide financial assistance to high school students who want to participate in their cultural ambassador program. www.ncwa-fl.org/eil.html
School Year Abroad (SYA): Summer and school year programs where students attend an SYA school in France, Italy, Spain or China www.sya.org/s/833/index.aspx?sid=833&gid=1&pgid=1001
Student Diplomacy Corps: Provides opportunities and scholarships for students to promote civic engagement and understanding of global issues. http://sdcorps.org/