Bringing the world home
AFS-USA has been celebrating its 75th anniversary
AFS-USA has been celebrating its semisesquicentennial over the past year. Locally, AFS has been active in Humboldt County for more than 37 years.
The American Field Service — which began as a humanitarian ambulance service during World War I and II — transformed in the 1940s to an international student exchange organization with a goal of “building a more peaceful world by promoting understanding among cultures,” according to the AFS Intercultural Programs website, https://afs.org/.
Each year, AFS students come to the United States from over 80 other countries and typically stay for a school year or semester, living with a host family in the community where they’re placed and attending high school there. AFS also offers study-abroad opportunities for U.S. teens to more than 40 different nations.
“For 75 years, AFS-USA (a partner in the global AFS network) has been bringing the world to local communities across the U.S. through high school international exchange programs,” said Abby Munro-Proulx of Bayside, an AFS-USA volunteer with the Northwest California Area Team, which includes Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity counties.
Munro-Proulx said, “These students are not only deeply affected by their experiences in the U.S., but they themselves also have an immeasurable impact on the world around them.”
Recently, four Humboldt County high schools were recognized by AFS-USA as schools with top hosting or sending volume for the years 1999 to 2022. Schools honored for hosting students were McKinleyville High School and Northcoast Preparatory and Performing Arts Academy, which was also recognized for its study-abroad volume. Eureka High School and South Fork High School were both honored for their study-abroad volume. In December, Arcata High School also received special recognition from AFS-USA volunteers for its involvement with the exchange program over the years.
“Our primary local schools have been working with AFS volunteers for a long time,” MunroProulx said. “They trust that the students we place will do well and if there are any issues they can get help from us.”
AFS first became active in Humboldt County nearly 40 years ago.
“I founded AFS in Humboldt in 1985 when a high school girl I was tutoring in French wanted to go away somewhere,” said Susan McPherson of Bayside. “Since my family had hosted the second AFS student at Adolfo Camarillo High School in 1962-63, I knew a lot about the program and suggested it to her. To obtain more information, I phoned my mother who was still involved and got AFS’ New York City address. I wrote a letter to this U.S. central office and they put me in touch with the nearest active chapter in Crescent City, Del Norte County.”
McPherson and her husband hosted the first AFS student at Arcata High School, Laurette Degy from France. Two other local families hosted students that same year, from Sweden and Barbados, she said.
After many years of being affiliated with AFS’ Cal-Ore Area Chapter, which spans from Crescent City up the coast to Gold Beach, Oregon, and east to Roseburg, Oregon, McPherson made strides to form a Humboldt chapter.
“They happily let us join them because it meant they didn’t have to pay so much to the New York office,” McPherson said. “I took it upon myself to split from them because it was just too far for us to drive to Glide, Oregon, to the AFSers’ orientations.”
About that time, at a fundraising yard sale McPherson was holding to help pay for start-up costs of the new AFS chapter, she met her neighbor, Chris Hawkins,
who asked McPherson what the AFS program was all about. Soon, the two began working together to grow the local AFS program.
“Chris … and I spent the next 15-plus years volunteering and keeping the program going,” McPherson said.
She added, “I can proudly state that the Northwest California Area Team functions on its own steam because of the excellent volunteers of our local communities who take their time to enrich the lives of these young people from around the world. We’ve all hosted multiple times and I still volunteer, mostly as a student’s liaison from the community to help the individual have a successful year.”
McPherson says that from that first year in 1986 through 1999, there were 129 AFSers who came to the local area and three AFS exchange teachers hosted by local schools.
“After (that), I lost count,” McPherson said.
An integral part of the AFS program are the families/individuals who open their homes and share their lives with students from countries around the world.
Gayle Susan of McKinleyville has been a host parent with AFS since 1999.
“I’ve always loved languages and been fascinated by other cultures. A friend, Abby Proulx, and her husband introduced me to a student they had been hosting that year, and invited me to come to an AFS meeting to learn more,” said Susan, who has hosted 18 students over the years.
“Half of these (were) for the entire school year, and the other half for various lengths of time, from a week to several months or a semester. I’ve hosted students from about 13 different countries, including Bolivia, Argentina, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia and Japan,” Susan said.
She added, “I absolutely love getting to know the students, about their language, cultures — and sharing ours with them. Every student is different, even those from the same country. AFS has a very good support system. If we have questions or concerns, we have lots of local volunteers, as well as good communication with AFS staff in Portland and New York that can help. I also like the fact that AFS accepts single host parents, with or without kids.”
Currently, Susan — who retired in 2010 — is hosting Eszter (“Eszti”) Szabó from Hungary.
“She is 17 and is an absolute delight,” Susan said. “She’s a senior attending McKinleyville High.”
For more information about AFS-USA, go to afsusa.org. For more information about the Northwest California Area Team, visit https://www.afsusa. org/team/northwest-california.