Welcome back to The AFS Exchange for Season 2!
As an AFS volunteer, you gain skills that are valuable outside of AFS. Intercultural communication, leadership, marketing, event planning, content creation, project management, and more. In this episode we hear from 3 AFS volunteers who are all at points of transition in their lives. How has their volunteer experience equipped them with valuable skills to move confidently forward?
Guests: Chelsea Kidd, Chloe Marette, Anna Harris
Volunteer with AFS-USA: askafs@afsusa.org
Contact us: podcast@afsusa.org
Welcome back to The AFS Exchange for Season 2!
As an AFS volunteer, you gain skills that are valuable outside of AFS. Intercultural communication, leadership, marketing, event planning, content creation, project management, and more. In this episode we hear from 3 AFS volunteers who are all at points of transition in their lives. How has their volunteer experience equipped them with valuable skills to move confidently forward?
Guests: Chelsea Kidd, Chloe Marette, Anna Harris
Volunteer with AFS-USA: askafs@afsusa.org
Contact us: podcast@afsusa.org
Kate M.
Hello and welcome to The AFS Exchange. My name is Kate Mulvihill. The AFS Exchange is a podcast by AFS-USA where we open the door to hear from members of our AFS family. This is a place to have conversations, or ya know, exchanges, with AFS host families, students, volunteers, and educators.
During these exchanges, we will hear from our guests on how their lives have been impacted by AFS. What lessons have they taken away from their experience abroad, or their experience with hosted students in the United States?
[Music]
Kate M.
So, volunteering for AFS is for… pretty much anyone! Really, the door is open for anyone who is passionate about furthering AFS’s mission of building a more just and peaceful world.
Volunteers of all walks of life do great work with us. As I’m recording this in early 2022, we have active volunteers in 46 states. Our volunteers range in age from 14 to 90!
Who are our AFS volunteers? AFS returnees, absolutely, but also host siblings, college students, parents, doctors, flight attendants, teachers, chefs, government employees, EMTs, farmers, musicians, so many more!
Also- I’m just talking about the United States, here. Across the world? There are more than 50,000 AFS volunteers!
In this episode, I chat with 3 volunteers who are all in points of transition in their lives. Anna in her junior year in high school, Chelsea finishing up undergraduate studies, and Chloe, who just completed her graduate degree.
We are going to hear about how volunteering with AFS has equipped these volunteers with valuable skills for moving confidently into the next step of their lives.
[Music]
Kate M.
Chelsea is a volunteer in Southern Maine. She has been involved for years, starting with when her family hosted a German student when she was in high school. She has been a host mother and is an active volunteer in the area. She is also finishing up her undergrad degree! Chelsea and I chat about her beginnings with AFS, what skills she’s learned from volunteering, and how her AFS experience has guided her academic life.
Chelsea K.
Yeah, so my name is Chelsea Kidd. I am a volunteer in the Pine Tree Maine Team in Southern Maine.
Kate M.
How did you first hear about AFS?
Chelsea K.
So I had been really involved with the exchange students at my high school. I was just really interested in learning about the exchange students. And then my friend who went to a different school mentioned that her family was about to host a girl from Thailand with AFS and I hadn't heard about AFS before. So I started looking into them and then someone- perhaps me- put in my parent’s contact information and AFS reached out to them and that's how we got my German brother.
And over my senior year, we built a connection with AFS because of my German brother and how wonderful the volunteers were with him. And that was all it's all just kind of built from there.
Kate M.
So, did you go abroad yourself?
Chelsea K.
So I went on exchange I actually I didn't go with AFS but I had pretty much memorized the AFS program catalog. And I fell in love with Portugal because of AFS’s description. They said, In Portugal, people and relationships are more important than time and punctuality and I was like, Sign me up. That is so me. I want to be on time. I want to respect people. I want to be polite. But sometimes time just doesn't feel real. And I just want all of us to be a little more flexible with each other. And so Portugal sounded perfect. But I was two months too old to go to Portugal with AFS. .
Kate M.
Hmm. So how did you get reintroduced to AFS after your own exchange program in Portugal?
Chelsea K.
I kept getting the emails from when I was in high school. And then when I was 25, my boyfriend and I had gotten a house. And I said, what if we were a Welcome Family?
And we ended up with a boy from Mexico who was just wonderful It was a delight and very easygoing. And so we went on. We ended up hosting him all year, even though we had just planned on being the welcome family at the beginning. And then the volunteers kind of recruited me to volunteer, and I was interested in being a liaison, and getting to have that kind of one on one relationship as a volunteer with a student and just the sustained interaction and learn about them.
I think, when they asked if I would be interested in trying to recruit host families, I said, Well, I could take some bookmarks to the library or something. I was so uncomfortable with the idea of anything that felt like sales. But then, over the course of that summer, I think I found five host families or something.
Kate M.
Yeah, you know when new volunteers hear “finding host families” they often think it means straight up sales, like it means talking someone into something they don't really need. But it’s not.
Chelsea K.
And some of the host families ended up going on to be volunteers as well. But it's just because it's not sales with AFS, because we're volunteers and I can say, honestly, I'm not getting paid to find host families. I am telling you about this experience, because I believe in it for the student, for the host family and for the larger community.
Especially because I can talk about how it was growing up in small town Maine, which is not a diverse place. And it can be a place that is really skeptical of outsiders.
So meeting exchange students and realizing, oh, yeah, there is more to the world. And these are people who are excited to learn from all kinds of people, just as I'm excited to learn from them. That was life changing for me. And I want other kids growing up in small town Maine to have that I was lucky with my family, we got to host and I got to go on exchange. And I had gotten to travel out of state because our family was there. But some kids don't have that and meeting these exchange students is their first chance to really understand something beyond their immediate experience.
So when I'm talking about “You should host'' I am talking about what you can do for this one kid, what you can do for yourself, the connection you can build with that student's family, and the investment in your own local community. And I ended up really feeling passionate about that, and being able to convey that passion to others. And so that was an interesting, glow up, I guess, in a sense, in that one, that first summer of volunteering, and then I got to have that sustained relationship through the orientations and as a liaison with different students getting to share some of the challenges and the triumphs of their years with them.
Kate M.
Yeah! Tell me about being a liaison! What does that entail?
Chelsea K.
Yeah, so with the basic responsibility of a liaison, it's just you have the once a month, check in with a student and their host family, you're supposed to try to speak to someone different in the host family each time, if there are multiple, you know, if you have more than one host parent. You have to maintain contact with the school.
But generally, I'll meet up with a student at a cafe and check in with them there. We sometimes will then walk around afterwards. Because sometimes when you're face to face with someone, they don't quite, or they're not quite as forthcoming with anything that might be challenging. But if you're walking around, when you're not face to face, then things start to come out and you start to hear what's a little bit trickier for them, whether it's, I'm just having a hard time finding an activity, there's just so much homework, I'm so tired, or I don't understand why my host family does this thing.
And so then we try to talk about things, some of these difficulties and figure out what is a problem that we can that we need to resolve we need to jump in? And what is more of, okay, this is something you have to adjust to what are some strategies for dealing with that.
Kate M.
Okay, well, let's see. So in addition to your work as a liaison and as a hosting volunteer, have there been other roles and responsibilities that you've had throughout the years?
Chelsea K.
Most of what I do as a volunteer, it's hard to put in one particular volunteer hat. So I've done some marketing type things for our team, and I've gone out and I've sat at a table at different events, and I've made which students should you host personality quizzes. videos, I've had students who are currently here read Host Family Letters by students who are coming for the next year, so that potential host families associate the letter with a student's face, even if it's not the face of the student who is coming. They have that kind of connection to the idea that this is a person not a concept.
Kate M.
Hah! So, hmm, what skills would you say you’ve gained as an AFS volunteer?
Chelsea K.
I decide that something should be possible. And so I figure out how to do it. So a lot of video editing things. I'm still not great at editing video, I prefer writing and acting and directing.
So I have learned a lot more techniques for video editing. I've definitely thought a lot more about marketing techniques, and the idea of sales and marketing in general, just thinking of it as more of a matchmaking opportunity, rather than an obligation.
Kate M.
Absolutely, that’s a great way to see it.
Chelsea K.
And that's something that I definitely, you know, as I've gone back to school, in part inspired by AFS and all of the students I've met, and learning through that. Now, I'm about to graduate, and I'm applying to jobs, and I'm having to remind people, look, I have these things in my actual professional history. But then, in my volunteer history, I have AFS and I have so many of the soft skills and other skills that you're looking for through that. And so I tried to remind employers that this is something if you want empathy, someone who's worked with people across cultures has that if you want problem solving skills, I have to deal with, you know, teenagers and host families of teenagers, which can be a fraught situation, especially with cultural barriers. If I can kind of serve those tempers then an angry customer is nothing.
Kate M.
Yeah, so like, soft skills, problem solving. Getting to see where each party is at and finding a way to… meet in the middle. These are skills that can be applicable between teenagers and host families, between customers and staff, between staff and staff. Yeah, that absolutely seems very marketable.
Chelsea K.
But my volunteer background has given me a lot to work with. And a lot of what I've brought to past jobs since I started volunteering is from my volunteer experience with AFS and then with some other organizations I've gotten involved with that are not exchange but are still interculturally oriented.
Kate M.
And that an employer can see that you've been committed to this volunteer position for so many years. But it shows that you can commit to something and stick to something. And that's, that’s pretty valuable. Oh, so, you are finishing up school right now. How has AFS affected your academic life?
Chelsea K.
It's in interdisciplinary studies. So definitely my volunteer background, and working with people across different cultures has inspired me, I took a course about Costa Rica, I didn't end up getting to go as I was supposed to, because of COVID. But I was inspired because of a Costa Rican student who came to my team, and just made the country sound wonderful. I have so many AFS influences in my different classes. I'm doing a course about European and American relations. And my final project, I have pretty open. It's pretty open. So I'm going to talk to my German brother, because we were both born in the same year 1989, which was a big year for Germany, and he's East German. So I'm kind of comparing our lives. And, you know, our parents, our mom's pregnancies and everything. And how international relations between our countries has changed.
Kate M.
That’s really cool!
Chelsea K.
So yeah, my volunteering and hosting have really played a big role in my education. And in going back to school in the first place. So tying it in just made sense for me.
Kate M.
Hmm… so, what would you say to people considering volunteering with AFS?
Chelsea K.
So to anyone who's considering volunteering with AFS, go for it, because there's not one particular thing you need to be doing. I've sort of crafted my volunteer role and stepped in where I've been needed. But I've also stretched the boundaries of what we've done before for volunteering, as I've seen new ways to serve our mission and get the word out . So you can use your own strengths, and you can work with the time you have available, it's definitely best if you have more time and can get to know the students more. But if that's not a priority for you, but you do like the idea of what AFS does, or AFS was meaningful to you in some other way, at some other point in your life, go for it, you can definitely find a place to fit in. And most teams that I'm aware of are very excited to have new people and to find a place for you or have you find your own place to fit in with the mission as it is applied in whichever geographical area.
The main thing for me was when I got involved with volunteering, I finally gained a sense of closure for my own exchange that I had been craving and getting to be a part of other students exchange experiences, year after year, from the very beginning as we try to find their host families to the end as we see the struggle to leave but knowing that their connection will last that has contributed so much more to my own concept of exchange and has given me peace with that phase of my exchange being over the actively living with my host family. But knowing that exchange lives on and that it's just a new step that has been so incredibly valuable. So if you feel like your exchange isn't over or you feel like, you're just not ready to be done, or you just miss that, finding a place to get involved with AFS, whether you are an AFS student or not, whether you've hosted with AFS or not, or hosted or been on exchange at all, if you have this interest in other places, and other people, you have something to bring to the table and your local team would be thrilled to have you.
Kate M.
That was Chelsea Kidd, a volunteer in southern Maine.
[Music]
Kate M.
Chloe is an AFS volunteer living in California. She’s from the US, but moved to Mexico with her dad as a kid before coming back to the States for high school. And during high school, she spent a semester in France with AFS. She has just finished up her graduate work in Non Proliferation and Terrorism Studies. She is a mentor for AFS’s Youth Ambassador Program, or YAP.
Kate M.
Do you have any questions for me before we start?
Chloe M.
No, I’m excited. I'm gonna apologize in advance if my cat starts getting loud.
Kate M.
No worries, I have one too. He's sleeping right now. I think he's gonna be good. Um, so, could you introduce yourself?
Chloe M.
Yeah, so, my name is Chloe Marette. I am an AFS returnee and a volunteer. I went to France in 2014 for a semester. And I'm currently in California volunteering with AFS. But I previously volunteered in Arizona as well.
Kate M.
How did you first hear of AFS?
Chloe M.
Um, my French teacher in high school had it kind of like at the end of the syllabus of just kind of, you know, resources of studying abroad.
I saw at the beginning of my junior year of high school, and ideally, I wanted to do a year program, but I also kind of wanted to do like my senior year in the US and go to prom and all the dances and all the football games. So kind of like my only opportunity was the second semester of my junior year. So I basically got everything together super quickly to send in the application before the deadline. And you know, I was lucky enough to get a helpful scholarship from AFS and then finished fundraising to be able to go on my trip.
Kate M.
That's great. And is that when you were living in Arizona?
Chloe M.
Yeah, I had just recently moved back to the US. And that, like, was my decision to go. I had grown up in Mexico, and we just moved back so I could do High School in the US. My dad knew kind of, I didn't really want to be there. So he's like, Well, if you don't want to be here, go somewhere else. So yeah, I went to France.
Kate M.
Where were you placed in France?
Chloe M.
So I was in a very small town on the West Coast. I went to school in a city called Niort.
However, the city that I actually lived in with my host family, it was like an hour bus ride outside of it. And a very, very small little town. So I would always have to take like an hour bus ride, you know, in the morning to go to school and stuff like that.
I'm going back on Thursday. That's why I'm going back out of the country, I'm going to go visit my host family. So super excited.
Kate M.
Aw, that's so exciting. And is this like your first trip back to France since going there as AFS student?
Chloe M.
No, so this will be my third time actually going back to visit them. I went back right after I graduated high school with my dad for the first time. So my dad got to meet my host family, which was super nice. And then I went back in 2018, which was the last time I saw them. So this will be since then. Yeah. And they've come to the US twice to see me. We've remained in contact, it’s great.
Kate M.
Are there any memories of your time in France that really stand out to you?
Chloe M.
We went to this one event where it was like a country event, like, estern country event. And we walk in, and they're selling cowboy boots and cowboy hats and Route 66 signs everywhere and American flags everywhere. And I'm just like, What is going on? And they were teaching line dancing classes. And I was like, Okay, this is really interesting. And it was kind of before I got into, like, my whole country, phase two, so I wasn't really that into it. We’re just kind of like sitting down at the table, and someone comes up onto the dance floor. And they're like, yeah, thank you, everyone, like doing all their thank yous and stuff. And, like, we have a special surprise for you. We have someone here from the United States, from Arizona, to talk to you all, and they literally pull me up in the middle of the dance. And all these friends people and then afterwards, like people would come up and ask to take pictures with me. Because I was like a real American from the West, it was really interesting so that definitely shocked me the most.
Kate M.
Wow. Well. so you got involved as a volunteer in Phoenix pretty much right after returning from France. What kinds of things would you do as a young volunteer still in high school?
Chloe M.
Just being able to share my experience with students who were potentially thinking about studying abroad and trying to encourage them to study abroad as well. Speaking to host families on how, you know, they can be a better host family, to their students, or even just talking to students, when they're here from other countries, about, you know, trying to get through the hard times, or just learning more about them. So, I was really interested in that even when I moved out of Phoenix to Tucson for college, I joined the small Tucson chapter there. So I continued volunteering there, and AFS has kind of become part of my life now in some way, so.
Once I moved here, to California, I'm also in a very small chapter, the Steinbeck Coast chapter. I've kind of take on a bigger role of actually like reaching out to schools and trying to set up like contacts and being able to go to the schools to give presentations about AFS just to kind of educate the students more and hopefully they can, you know, become host families or go abroad themselves.
Kate M.
What do you enjoy about volunteering with AFS?
Chloe M.
I just like the community. Everyone in the community is so different, like you would think like, okay, like, everyone who's a volunteer with AFS, like studied abroad with us. But it's not that at all, you know, there's some people who like hosted, you know, 10s of host students. We have volunteers in our chapter, who, when they were like in their 20s, and recently married, they would volunteer to take like the students on the DC trip, you know, where they would be weeks in a bus, like traveling to DC. So all the students can see the Capitol. And then they were just doing that every year. And now they're, you know, volunteers with our chapter. And I just find it so interesting hearing about everyone's experience. And just having the same goal of wanting students to learn more about the world.
Kate M.
Hmm. So I know you’ve also been involved as a mentor in the Youth Ambassador Program for young volunteers. Can you tell me a bit about it?
Chloe M.
Yeah. So um, we're in our second class right now. So we did our first class and our first round of students last fall. They have the opportunity to join our class. It's a seven week online class, we meet once a week, just so they can start creating a sustainability project for their community, on whatever interests them whatever they think their community needs.
And so we kind of help them create the foundation of their projects, start thinking about what they want to do, What if they're going to have to fundraise and budget for it? What tools and volunteers and stuff like that they're going to need, setting dates and deadlines for their project.
And then once they finish the class, they present it to a board of AFS volunteers and AFS staff.
And then hopefully, they implement it kind of on their own once that has finished in their community. So I am one of the mentors. So I'm assigned two to three students that are kind of within my same time zone, because they're all across the country, and we all meet on Zoom.
And just kind of help them work through if they have any issues or questions, you know, kind of be their reminder, once our class is done to, like, make sure you get your project going. But just kind of like be there to support them. And we've had two great groups of students who've come through and have, like, such creative and amazing ideas that they're, you know, trying to implement in their community.
Kate M.
So, have you learned any new skills while volunteering with AFS? Be it through the Youth Ambassador Program or any of your other volunteering?
Chloe M.
Yeah, I definitely think that it's, it's taught me to like network, for sure. Which is key now that I've, you know, graduated trying to drop. So I've learned, you know, like, my networking skills. I'm kind of like an introvert and wouldn't necessarily like go and send cold emails out to teachers and principals at school or the community to see if I can come to the school and talk to their students. So definitely, like pushing me to do that is great skills, I think, and just kind of in the mentorship role, just kind of like trusting myself and, you know, accepting that, like, you know, like, I can be a leader and I can, you know, help out others.
Chloe M.
Also like speaking to, to parents and students, like you're in front kind of a big crowd. So I think it's definitely helped like my presentation skills, my public speaking skills. And just being a little bit more outspoken rather than, you know, like, just like hiding in the corner.
Kate M.
And you’re finishing up your masters?
Chloe M.
Yeah, so I actually just graduated in December. Yeah, I received my master's in Non Proliferation and Terrorism Studies. And so I'm kind of job searching right now. I actually have an interview tomorrow. So fingers crossed, for that one.
But yeah, I definitely think AFS has kind of helped me figure out what I want to do kind of in my life, like, I grew up in a foreign country and like, learn the language and then through AFS, I had the opportunity to do that again with a new country and a new language. So it kind of helped me realize that like, “Hey, I'm actually kind of good at this. And, you know, I actually really enjoy it. So why can I just do it again?” So, in college, I actually majored in Arabic and Middle Eastern studies. So I have my Bachelor's degree in that. And I kind of like my goal has always been to try to kind of be like, the bridge between different cultures
And so wanting to do that, with all the different languages and cultures that I can possibly learn, is really something that I wanted to do. So I'm taking that experience and then going into my master's and learning, you know, analytical skills and stuff like that, to kind of put everything together to hopefully work for, you know, private companies or NGOs or even like the US government. So I'm thankful for AFS overall.
Kate M
That was Chloe Marette, AFS returnee and volunteer in California.
[Music]
Kate M.
Anna is in the 11th grade and is a volunteer with the Southern New England Area Team.. She found out about AFS when researching organizations in her area related to travel. She has volunteered with hosted students in her community, and was a participant in the Youth Ambassador Program.
Kate M.
So Anna, tell me a bit about yourself.
Anna H.
I'm in 11th grade. So I've been doing this for not too long, about a year. And it's been a lot of fun so far, but I do a lot of other activities.…I like sports a lot, and play lacrosse cross country, do a lot of that. And I've never really traveled much in my life, which is kind of got me into this a lot. Because I was really interested in traveling. And yeah, that just kind of kicked off me trying to, like be a part of this, meet more people.
Kate M.
What are some things you’ve gotten involved with as a volunteer?
Anna H.
So I normally just go to like their events that they have, where they have, like, all the students who would be in Connecticut who are now can be part of this semester will meet and do different activities, like get to know you things. So I'm kind of like, act as like a guide for it. Okay, like I just yeah, just kind of like, try to help everybody flow better. Like, there's a lot of people who speak different languages, and maybe kind of like help with that.
Kate M.
So I know that you've been participating in the Youth Ambassador Program
Could you talk a little bit more about that experience?
Anna H.
Yep, YAP has been a great experience, it really kind of helped me construct a project idea and then execute it, which was very hard to do. But with the help of YAP, I was able to then, like have the tools and have the guidance that helps me actually like form this project, which is something I couldn't even imagine doing until I was more of an adult. So it's kind of fun to be like, given this chance at like a young age to actually do something where I had all the control all the responsibility, and just like learn how to talk to people who are much older than me, and make those connections myself. So that was a lot of fun. Just having that responsibility.
Kate M.
Your project was called… Sleepy Sloths, and it was with the goal of improving sleep and wellness in your community. Why did you choose this as a project?
Anna H.
Because I noticed that was like a big issue. At least for my area during COVID. A lot of people weren't getting a lot of sleep, they like just staying up all night with their friends or just staying up with like, mental health was a big one.
I love drawing and art, painting and stuff. So we started this like bag painting idea where you would paint a bag. And then we would sell the bag to students at our school. And the bags would have like items in them to help them sleep like sleep masks , earplugs, stickers, notebook pencil was like things to help them sleep at night. So we'd sell those at our school for $5. And then we'd have a profit and that profit will be used to make other bags that would go to a homeless shelter in our community.
Kate M.
Yeah, that's such a great idea. So you and a group decorated all of the bags yourselves?
Anna H.
Yeah, we would go to the beach, a lot of fun and go to the beach and paint these bags outside. And then if people could paint them at home, anyone can get involved for volunteer hours we would get for them, then people could pay and then everyone could get these personalized, artistic things. They just felt like that made it more special.
Kate M.
Absolutely. So like, what are some of the things you would paint like? Does everyone have their own style? Is there like a theme?
Anna H.
Some people would paint cartoons and it was fun, like there would be different people. And we had some like, guys, they paint like Rick and Morty things. And then we'd have like, girls probably paint more of like, sunflowers, we have a lot of beaches, people would paint beaches, and there was some people who just kind of did like abstract random things. It was really just up in the air, like, however you were like feeling or wanting to do. Like there was no like, limit, like the main thing was just that it was, we would like would spend time on it. So that would show that we cared. Spending time and putting time towards something can show more compassion.
Kate M.
What would you say was the most challenging part of this project?
Anna H.
The hard part was just making it happen. Like trying to make the connections for me was the hardest part. because not a lot of people were either, like, answering my emails or answering my calls, they didn't really know what I was doing, or what this was for. So the execution part was the hardest. But then I was able to, like, learn to write these little like, scripts out. So we had these like, one minute scripts, and that was really helped me kind of gauge more people because they sounded sounded like more serious, more, something that was more professional.
Kate M.
So what skills would you say you have gained while volunteering with AFS and participating in the Youth Ambassador Program?
Anna H.
I definitely gained a lot more confidence. That was my main skill, like meeting new people and having to like, especially the YAP program, meaning having to reach out to new people, but just kind of gaining that more broader perspective of like, the bigger picture, where it's not just like my town, but kind of like seeing all these people from everywhere else. And realizing like, maybe the world isn't that small, after all, and seeing everything in a broader range.
It really helped, like, my ideas grow. So that was that was wonderful to see that new perspective on life and ideas. And I also kind of got some skills on presentation, because we had to do some presentations through the YAP program. So learning how to like, present ideas and like slideshows or writing form, like essay form, having to be able to like summarize things.
Kate M.
So you’ve been volunteering with AFS for about a year… do you have any future plans to go abroad?
Anna H.
I am very interested in going abroad, but I don't think I'm going to be able to do that, like get more into college. So I'm thinking probably my sophomore year of college, I'm going to try to do some type of studying abroad. And hopefully, France,
Kate M.
Thank you. Thanks for coming and chatting with me after school. Yeah, thank you so much for chatting with me tonight.
Anna H.
Thank you for having me. Thank you so much. Yep. Have a great day.
Kate M.
You too. Bye.
Kate M.
And that was Anna Harris, a volunteer in Connecticut.
[Music]
Kate M.
Well, thank you for listening to The AFS Exchange! I’m Kate Mulvihill. In this episode you heard from volunteers Chelsea Kidd, Chloe Marette, and Anna Harris. Are you interested in volunteering with AFS? Send a message to askafs@afsusa.org or head over to afsusa.org and click on “Volunteer.” Are you a listener from outside of the United States? Check out afs.org then select your country from the drop down menu.
Let us know what you thought of this episode by sending a message to podcast@afsusa.org. You can also rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe there as well! Season 2 of the AFS exchange will bring you conversations with hosted students, educators, host families, volunteers, and more. We’ve got another episode coming out next month.
This podcast was created by Kate Mulvihill. Social media by Julie Ball. Special thanks to Annelise Depman and Audrey Pinchock.