A group of four US high school students arrived in Sarajevo, BiH, where they’ll be spending the upcoming school year living and studying in the country’s capital. These students are participants in the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad program that now, for the first time, includes Bosnia and Herzegovina in its list of host countries.
The YES program was established in 2002, in a response to the 9/11 attacks, with the aim of tackling stereotypes and promoting a relationship between Americans and people from the countries with a majority Muslim population. The program was established and is funded by the US Department of State (Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs), and it is run by the American Council for International Education. The YES program gives high school students from 38 countries around the world an opportunity to spend up to one academic year in the United States. Similarly, the YES Abroad program, established in 2007, provides scholarship for American students to live and study in one of nine YES designated countries.
American students who went to BiH will be enrolled in an IB (international baccalaureate) program at Second Gymnasium in Sarajevo, where they will attend classes in English, while at the same time learning the local language(s). During their stay in BiH, students will live with the local host families, which will give them the opportunity to be completely immersed in Bosnian culture and the Bosnian way of life.
Creative Commons Love: SLU Madrid Campus on Flickr.com
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