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Community Corner

Local student awarded sought-after scholarship

Karlie Naphy, a ninth grader from Highland Regional High School, Gloucester Township, New Jersey, will be spending this coming academic year in Hochdorf, a small historic town outside the city of Biberach, in southern Germany. She is one of four students from New Jersey participating in a program jointly sponsored by the US and German governments, called the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX).

Karlie’s family realized the value of intercultural student exchanges in 2009, when they hosted a German AFS student for a year followed by another student for a shorter period in 2010.  While Karlie is in Germany, her family will be hosting their third German student through AFS-USA. “Hosting exchange students has been such an amazing experience. Our family has learned so much from these AFS students and the students put so much energy into learning our language and culture,” said Karlie. “Now its time for me to return the favor and put the same energy into learning theirs.”

What is Karlie looking forward to?  “I have been playing soccer in Blackwood for 11 years, so I am hoping to find a team that I can play for in Germany. I am teaching myself German, so that I can run onto the field yelling the right words! I play the oboe. I know orchestras are always looking for oboe players. I trust that will be the case for me.”

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CBYX  is sponsored by U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the German Bundestag. The program is aimed at highly motivated high school students who want to learn a foreign language and culture through a full immersion experience. CBYX students live and study in Germany for a full academic year.  They stay with local German families that have been vetted by AFS are assigned local AFS liaisons to assist with integration They share their lives and culture with their German hosts and  help build a greater international understanding of the United States and its diversity, fulfilling their roles as US youth ambassadors.

This upcoming school year, 250 CBYX students from all over the US will fly to Washington DC for a multiple-day Orientation, and then depart for their destinations throughout Germany. 

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Since its establishment in 1983, approximately 20,000 German and American students have participated in the CBYX program. Karlie applied for the program though the international student exchange organization, AFS-USA. In doing so, she will take advantage of all the resources available though AFS.  Sue Fershing, New Jersey’s AFS Area Team Chair commented, “If you are interested in hosting  or in studying abroad, please contact me.  My contact Info:  973-533-1341/ sfersh@juno.com or visit www.afsusa.org.

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About AFS

AFS, a worldwide, nonprofit organization, has been leading international high school student exchange for more than 60 years.  Each year, AFS-USA sends more than 1,100 US students abroad, provides approximately $3 million in scholarships and financial aid, and welcomes 2,500 international high school students who come to study in US high schools and live with host families.  More than 5,000 volunteers in the US make the work of AFS possible.   

 

 

 

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