American Councils for International Education
My name is James Kerr. I am a semi-retired teacher and I live in Troy, Illinois in Madison County. For about ten years, I have been working as a volunteer with American Councils for International Education, a non-governmental organization into Washington, DC that places students who are selected into US Department of State programs. Students spend a school year in a community in the United States as part of the program. I have worked as a local coordinator in this program, visiting the students once a month at their high schools, making sure they are doing well, and working with their host families if there are issues of concern. This is NOT an exchange program for students whose families can afford to send them for a year abroad. These students are here as guests of the US Dept. of State and have qualified to be selected for their respective scholarships.
All of the students in this program are required to score well on an aptitude test, an English language test, and they have advanced through three rounds of interviews before being selected. All students come with full health insurance and all receive a monthly stipend to help with incidental expenses from the Dept. of State.
Each host family must provide a safe and English speaking environment, a place to sleep, meals and snacks for all meals taken by the family, a place to study, and transportation to and from school and school activities if necessary. School bus transportation is fine.
I would appreciate interest from couples with children, couples without children, seniors, empty nesters, or singles. I have done placements with all of the above and the placements changed the lives of everyone concerned. I would be happy to provide more information to any members of your faculty and staff who might be interested in hosting or who know someone who might be interested. We are only a few weeks from the arrival of the first students and there are so many to place that I fear that some will not be able to use the scholarships they have won. It is my hope that an appeal to those who work in higher education may provide some host families interested in helping these students. Please contact me if you are interested. I would be happy to provide more information on the program. Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Best wishes,
James E. Kerr PhD
Local Coordinator
American Councils for International Education
jekerr@charter.net
Home phone 618 667 9858