John Adams High-Parent Group - Exchange Student Programs

Exchange Student Programs

There are multiple organizations in the South Bend area that serve to match interested John Adams High families with foreign exchange students. This may not be an exhaustive list but these are a few that have served the John Adams High School community well in recent years.

AFS-USA (formerly the American Field Service), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, with a 65 year history is a leader in intercultural learning and offers international exchange programs in more than 40 countries around the world through independent, nonprofit AFS Organizations, each with a network of volunteers, a professionally staffed office, and headed up by a volunteer board. There is a strong team right here in St Joseph County, IN. AFS has an exemplary record of safety, security, and service to students, parents, and educators. The support you receive from local volunteers sets AFS apart from other programs.

What is expected from an AFS host family:

1. Provide the student with their own bed. ( They can share a room with an age-appropriate, same-gender sibling. )

2. Provide all meals (including a packed lunch for school or allowance for purchased school lunch); family dinner out at a restaurant. Optional meals and other expenses, if going out with friends are the student's responsibility.

3. The same love, care and support that you would provide your own children.In return, your family receives an unbelievable experience and a life-long connection with a new son or daughter.

Choosing to open your home will, quite simply, change your life!

Who To Contact: Lori Butchko AFS Volunteer Liason for South Bend Schools

Email: LoriButchkoAFS@gmail.com

Phone: 574-315.9192

Website: https://www.afsusa.org

CASE-USA: Cultural Academic Student Exchange:

Cultural Academic Student Exchange (CASE) is a non-profit, educational and cultural organization founded in 1988 on the belief that international student exchange promotes understanding, respect and goodwill among people of all nations. CASE brings foreign teens together with US volunteer host families. Our program grants students, host families and entire communities the ability to discover and value other cultures, which ultimately increases international harmony and creates lasting friendships.

Our program enables students from over 25 countries, ages 15 to 18 years old, to experience the American way of life by living with an American host family and attending a local high school, either for a full year or one semester. Students are carefully screened and selected by our international partners to be sure they possess academic achievement, exemplary character, adaptability, and a good command of the English language. Host families provide students with room and board as well as a loving home. They must demonstrate a willingness to share their lives with a foreign teen and have the student become part of their family.

CASE is fully listed with the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET) and is also designated by the Department of State as a sponsor for the J-1 high school exchange visitor program.

CASE is proud of its mission to "Bring the World Together, One Student at a Time." We truly believe that our program is making a difference in the world and that our young people and volunteers are fostering international friendships that will reach millions of people and help to make our world a better place.

Who To Contact: Tom Labuzienski, Volunteer Coordinator for CASE (Cultural Academic Student Exchange).

EXCHANGE PROGRAM STATUS: On Hold. As of August 2021 CASE is not offering exchange student programs in our area due to the COVID pandemic. When they resume we will update this page.

Website: http://www.case-usa.org/