Winter 2003 (11.4)
Page
15
Readers' Forum
Exchange
Students Meet in Kyiv
Fifteen
students from Azerbaijan were invited to join 250 exchange students
in Kyiv, Ukraine, on October 31 to November 2, 2003, to celebrate
the 10th Anniversary of the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program.
The summit was sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Education and
Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department and American Councils
for International Education.The Future Leaders Exchange was established
in 1992 as the centerpiece of the Newly Independent States (NIS)
Secondary School Initiative with Freedom Support Act funding
from the U.S. State Department and USAID. Its goal was to provide
an opportunity for high school students from the countries of
the former Soviet Union to experience life in the United States,
so that they would return to their own countries to promote democratic
values and institutions. U.S. Senator Bill Bradley introduced
the legislation which was enacted into law by President George
H.W. Bush (the father) on October 24, 1992.
Below: Exchange students from Azerbaijan who
were selected to participate in the FLEX Summit in Kyiv met U.S.
Senator Bill Brady who initiated the 1992 legislature that enabled
students from the former USSR to spend a year as exchange students
in high schools in the United States.
Since 1993 when the
program started in Azerbaijan, more than 700 youth have been
selected in a highly competitive process for the chance to study
in the United States in this high school exchange program. Usually
about 40 to 50 students are chosen annually out of 1,000 or more
applicants. In the 15 countries that made up the former Soviet
Union, there are now about 11,000 FLEX alumni.
One of the highlights of the Kyiv event was the chance for the
students to meet U.S. Senator Bill Bradley since he had been
so instrumental in the founding of this program.
Azerbaijan International editorial staff member Gulnar Aydamirova
was selected among the 15 FLEX students chosen from Azerbaijan
to attend the Kyiv summit. Vafa Mastanova, former Baku Manager
of AI is also a FLEX alumnus.
For more information about the FLEX program in Baku, contact:
Tel: (994-12) 92-34-50 or 92-01-96 or e-mail: info@americancouncils.az.
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2003)
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