- Editor's note: Egzon Halili is one of the newest fellows to complete a degree through the Kosovo American Education Fund (KAEF), but when he returned to Kosovo after graduation last year, he hit the ground running. He launched a company, Monego, that is already operating in cities around Kosovo. Now a CEO, he hopes to continue supporting young entrepreneurs, the same way he was supported through KAEF. This month, KAEF is celebrating awarding its 100th scholarship. You… Read More
- Exchange years are formative for many high school students, and Andriy Shevchenko was no exception. A native of Ukraine’s rugged and tradition-steeped western region of Ivano-Frankivsk, he traveled to Alameda, California in 1993 through the Future Leaders Exchange program, which was founded by US Senator Bill Bradley. Today, the Ukrainian ambassador to Canada credits Senator Bradley for inspiring his own political career.Speaking during the 20th anniversary celebration of the FLEX program… Read More
- Growing up in the capital city of Macedonia, Emir Hasanovic learned about America through pop culture and Hollywood. When he applied for the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program in 2008, social media did not have the same level of prominence that it does today. After he was accepted, he imagined how his American story would unfold. He assumed he would be placed in a big city, like he had seen in movies – New York City or Chicago. He was placed in Lyle, Minnesota. In… Read More
- Before she studied abroad in Tajikistan with American Councils, Vanessa E. Beary, Ed.D already had extensive international experience. She first studied Farsi while pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Cambridge in the UK in 2005. She later worked as a public diplomacy officer for the US State Department in Iraq, a role that earned her the Outstanding Civilian Service Award from the Department of Defense. It is the third-highest public honor a civilian can receive. She… Read More
- The first time he applied for an international exchange program, 17-year-old Carlo Aragon didn’t realize he was starting down a path toward a career in the US Foreign Service. He was in high school, at a meeting of the international club, when he heard about the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y). The president of the extracurricular club at the time had just returned from a summer studying Arabic in Egypt and recommended that Carlo apply for the State Department… Read More
- Nataliya Bugayova has never let unlikely odds get in her way. It was unlikely that she would become the first female CEO of a major Ukrainian publication at 25, but she did. It was unlikely that she would be accepted to a master’s program at Harvard at 21, as an international student, but she was. In 2004, it was unlikely that she would be selected as a Future Leaders Exchange student, but she was. She has her mother to thank for that. They lived in a small town, away from the big… Read More
- Long before she was on the shortlist for the Sony World Photography Award— before she ever considered becoming a professional photographer— Anush Babajanyan was an exchange student with a 23 mm film camera. It was a gift from her host mom, Judy Mothershead. As she recalled the story of her first camera, in an interview with American Councils, Ms. Babajanyan said she had never realized before that her interest in photography started back then, in Citronelle, Alabama. “I remember… Read More
- Editor's Note: August Thomas traveled from Massachusetts to Turkey in 2009, through the Critical Language Scholarship program. She knew the program would help her improve her Turkish language abilities and her understanding of the country. She had no idea that nine years later, the experience would inspire her first novel. Tell us a story about your program experience.Before my summer in Ankara with the Critical Language Scholarship program, I had visited Turkey once,… Read More
- Jesse Lynch and Lisa Roman were two of the last fellows who studied in Syria through Arabic Overseas Language Flagship program. Eleven years later, the two have continued using their language skills to build successful, global careers. Looking back, Mr. Lynch says he was always interested in languages but started to focus his attention on Arabic and the Middle East after 9/11, when he was a sophomore at Florida State University. “I knew I wanted to do something that would allow me to see… Read More
- Editor's note: Zana was part of the inaugural group of Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program students from Kosovo in 2009. She spent her academic year abroad in Minnesota. Today, she works with the United Nations Development Programme in Istanbul, where she continues to apply the lessons she learned during her YES year. Tell us a story about your program experience. I have many good experiences and great memories from my time on the program. If I had to choose… Read More
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