Exchange Alumni (Archived)

Calling ALL American high school students interested in studying abroad! The deadline for the U.S. Department of State’s YES Abroad program is December 1, 2015. 

The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad program offers American high school students and recent graduates full scholarships to study for one academic year in countries with significant Muslim populations. YES Abroad students serve as “youth ambassadors” of the United States and live with a host family, attend a local high school, acquire leadership skills, and engage in activities to learn about the host country’s society and values. 

Like all of the U.S. Department of State’s exchanges, the adventure does not end when participants return home. Using skills gained through exchanges, alumni pursue fascinating careers and work to make our world a better place. Don’t believe us? Take a look at just a few facts and figures about the international exchange alumni community. Not impressed by dozens of Nobel Laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners or hundreds of past and current world leaders? FLEX alumni have clocked 1 million hours of community service and 16 Fulbright alumni have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Interested in the program? Get to know YES Abroad alumna Savannah Wooten:

Savannah Wooten is a 2012-2013 Kennedy-Lugar YES Abroad program alumna. She lived in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina with a host family during her senior year of high school and attended Druga gimnazija high school as a part of her exchange. Savannah’s exchange sparked a deep interest in the power of policy and diplomacy to prevent, mitigate, and comprehensively respond to international conflict and mass atrocity crimes. 

She applied to college with these interests in mind and currently attends both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University through a collaborative scholarship program called the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program. During her first two years, Savannah completed comparative human rights coursework and research in Chile, Jordan, Nepal, and Rwanda where she has studied a variety of pressing human rights and conflict-related subjects. 

Ultimately, Savannah hopes to bring her academic experiences, research interests, and outside engagement to culmination in a career in human rights law and policy. She is considering careers in diplomacy, human rights and civil society.  Savannah’s overall experience and trajectory was shaped by her initial exposure to international conflict and human rights violations during her exchange year in Sarajevo.

Ready to make new friends around the world and have the adventure of a lifetime?

If you answered yes, and if Savannah’s story inspired you to apply to go on a YES Abroad exchange, check out the link to the 2016-2017 application. Still have questions? Check out these YES Abroad FAQs and be sure to share them with your parents and guardians, too. Here are some additional resources for your parents and families about U.S. Department of State-sponsored exchange programs.