Serving as a hub of interactive programming for children, youth, and teachers, the center aims to equip its participants with the skills necessary to thrive in a rapidly evolving global economy.

“We are proud to announce the opening of the STEAM Discovery Center in Saudi Arabia,” said World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins. “We know that a STEAM education not only equips students with practical skills for academic and career success but also inspires creativity, innovation, collaboration, and critical thinking—all essential traits of a global citizen. This is central to World Learning’s mission.”

World Learning Vice President of Global Programs Melissa Oppenheimer will be joined by Boeing Global President Dr. Brendan Nelson, Boeing Saudi Arabia President Asaad AlJomoai, and U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom Michael Ratney for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially inaugurate the center based in Riyadh.

The World Learning and Boeing-sponsored STEAM Discovery Center is part of Boeing’s commitment to promoting skills development in alignment with Saudi Vision 2030.

“The opening of the center marks a pivotal moment in our ongoing commitment to education and community development in Saudi Arabia,” said Nelson. “We are providing resources and opportunities for young minds and contributing to the broader goal of building a knowledge-based economy.”

The STEAM Discovery Center is a space where primary, middle, and high school students can create, innovate, and discover science in the world around them in fun, project-based learning experiences. The center’s programs challenge students to think creatively, solve real-world problems, and move beyond their limitations. The center also offers programs for STEAM educators of all disciplines to improve their pedagogical practices to create an engaging learning environment for all students.

“What students are learning at World Learning’s STEM centers brings all the specialties together in an interdisciplinary approach,” said Mohamed Abdelaziz, the center’s director and general manager of World Learning’s global office in Saudi Arabia. “The center gives them access to explore and learn what future careers might look like. World Learning has well understood the emerging demand for STEAM-enriched learning and is integrating education 4.0 to help make students future-ready.”

U.S. Ambassador Ratney also highlighted the importance of international collaboration in education.

“This center is a testament to the strong ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and it represents a shared vision and a common commitment to investing in the future of youth,” he said.

World Learning and Boeing have partnered to improve access to STEAM education since 2016. Through workshops, trainings, innovation camps, robotics competitions, and teacher education programs, more than 12,000 students and teachers across Algeria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia have actively learned new technical, professional, and leadership skills.

About World Learning:  World Learning is a global nonprofit that works to create a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world through education, cultural exchange, and locally led development. Through a portfolio of nearly 100 programs, World Learning helps equip individuals and institutions with fundamental and 21st-century skills, intercultural understanding, and networks worldwide to solve today’s most pressing and complex challenges. For more information, visit worldlearning.org.

About Boeing: As a leading global aerospace company, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. As a top U.S. exporter, the company leverages the talents of a global supplier base to advance economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing’s diverse team is committed to innovating for the future, leading with sustainability, and cultivating a culture based on the company’s core values of safety, quality and integrity. Join our team and find your purpose at boeing.com/careers.

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The Experiment Digital connects high school students from the Middle East and North Africa region with students in the United States using online platforms. The program expansion into Latin America involves working with partners identified in 15 countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean with the plan to reach students across the entire region. The new iteration will launch next year and is funded by the Stevens Initiative, which is housed at the Aspen Institute and is supported by the Bezos Family Foundation. 

“Virtual programs play an important role as a democratizer of education. For many young people, they offer a viable way to expand their skills and global perspective,” says World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins. “This, in turn, can further personal growth, enhance college readiness, and expand employment opportunities. For all these reasons, we are proud to be expanding The Experiment Digital program into Latin America.”

The program will have two offerings. In one, participants explore the environment and their communities and design projects to address ecological restoration, community resilience, or societal growth. In the other, a language tract, participants learn how to read stories and articles, converse about their daily lives, and write descriptive passages in both English and Spanish.

World Learning plans to enroll approximately 900 students in the program, which includes synchronous sessions with instructors and peers, asynchronous activities, collaborative final projects, and post-program workshops and alumni events to engage participants beyond the exchange. Participants will connect via online platforms such as Canvas and Zoom.

“Virtual exchange connects young people from around the world, creating engaging spaces for dialogue and discovery that support the development of practical life skills and build friendships along the way. It is a powerful tool to reimagine what global learning looks like,” says Christine Shiau, executive director of the Stevens Initiative. “World Learning embodies the spirit of innovation and collaboration necessary to help young people unlock their creativity, foster critical thinking skills, and feel connected to the world.”

The Experiment Digital is managed by the team of World Learning’s flagship program, The Experiment in International Living. The Experiment Digital is an open enrollment program, allowing high school-aged participants from any eligible country to apply online and participate outside of school. Educators and organizations are encouraged to share the opportunity with their high school students. For more information, email jennifer.chen@worldlearning.com

More Information

World Learning is a global nonprofit that works to create a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world through education, cultural exchange, and locally led development. Through a portfolio of nearly 100 programs, including The Experiment in International Living and The Experiment Digital, World Learning helps equip individuals and institutions with fundamental and 21st-century skills, intercultural understanding, and networks worldwide to solve today’s most pressing and complex challenges. For more information, visit worldlearning.org or experiment.org.

The Stevens Initiative is an international leader in virtual exchange, which brings young people from diverse places together to collaborate and connect through everyday technology. Created in 2015 as a lasting tribute to Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, the Initiative invests in virtual exchange programs; shares research, resources, and promising practices to improve impact; and advocates for broader adoption. To learn more, visit www.stevensinitiative.org.

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most important challenges facing the United States and the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

The Bezos Family Foundation supports rigorous, inspired learning environments for young people, from birth through high school, to put their education into action. Through investments in research, public awareness, systems building and programs, the foundation works to elevate the field of education and improve life outcomes for all children.

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STEAM Innovations is implemented by World Learning and is supported by the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative (JCSVEI). JCSVEI is a U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs program administered by the Aspen Institute. 

“We are honored to welcome 11 new grantees today. Together, we are embarking on a journey of discovery and continued growth in the virtual exchange field. This marks a major milestone towards our vision of a world where virtual exchange is part of every young person’s life,” said Christine Shiau, Executive Director of the Stevens Initiative. “Each grantee embodies the spirit of innovation and collaboration necessary to help young people unlock their creativity, foster critical thinking skills, form friendships, and feel connected to the world. Their dedication to lifelong learning will help us create opportunities that transcend boundaries, inspiring a brighter, more interconnected future for all.” 

Virtual exchange connects young people from around the world for learning and collaboration, immersing them in digital spaces to gain practical skills and build friendships along the way. It is a powerful tool to reimagine what global learning looks like, how it can be conducted, and how many people participate.

World Learning’s STEAM Innovations effectively prepares college-aged youth from Algeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United States for successful exploration of future STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) specialties and careers, while fostering cross-cultural understanding and equipping them with critical skills, a global perspective, and the ability to contribute meaningfully to their communities.

“World Learning is excited to launch its new STEAM Innovations program,” said World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins. “The inclusive program optimizes participant engagement around STEAM discovery, civic engagement, language learning, and entrepreneurship. It culminates in participant-designed, collaborative projects that address local or global issues in innovative, entrepreneurial ways.”

The 2024 J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative Grantees, which will reach young people in all U.S. states and territories and 11 MENA countries and territories, include:

• Digital Promise’s Building Apps Across Cultures
• Florida International University’s Virtual Tabadul: Creating Language-Learning Community Through Virtual Reality 
• Global Nomads Group’s (GNG) Overcoming Bias in AI 
• Miami Dade College’s Climate Stories
• Seattle University School of Law’s Transitional Justice Legal Exchange 
• Shenandoah University’s (SU) Virtually Going Global 
• Take Action Global’s Taking Climate Action Together
• Texas International Education Consortium’s Community Climate Connect 
• United Planet’s Youth2Youth Impact Investing 
• University of Florida’s Hands-on Energy and Thermo-fluids (HEAT) Program 

World Learning is a global nonprofit that works to create a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world through education, cultural exchange, and locally led development. Through a portfolio of nearly 100 programs, World Learning helps equip individuals and institutions with fundamental and 21st-century skills, intercultural understanding, and networks worldwide to solve today’s most pressing and complex challenges. For more information, visit worldlearning.org. 

The Stevens Initiative is an international leader in virtual exchange, which brings young people from diverse places together to collaborate and connect through everyday technology. Created in 2015 as a lasting tribute to Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, the Initiative invests in virtual exchange programs; shares research, resources, and promising practices to improve impact; and advocates for broader adoption. To learn more, contact Maura Daley at maura.daley@aspeninstitute.org or visit www.stevensinitiative.org.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) builds relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries through academic, cultural, sports, professional and private exchanges, as well as public-private partnerships and mentoring programs. These exchange programs improve foreign relations and strengthen the national security of the United States, support U.S. international leadership, and provide a broad range of domestic benefits by helping break down barriers that often divide us. To learn more, email ECA-Press@state.gov or visit eca.state.gov.

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most important challenges facing the United States and the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

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With backgrounds in child rights and protection and community engagement, the AIA winners will return to the Professional Fellows Congress to share their experiences and achievements, as well as the tools and skills they applied to their work after their fellowship, with current fellows.

The Professional Fellows Congress will take place in Washington, DC, on June 10-14. To learn more about the AIA winners, read their bios below.

MR. AHMAD ABDELGALIL, EGYPT (Legacy International, fall 2022)

A Youth and Adolescents Development Officer at United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Cairo, Ahmad Abdelgalil has been working to strengthen communities and support youth for the past twelve years. Driven by the critical need for leadership, Abdelgalil has become a social entrepreneur: “I have lived my life observing a world full of social, economic, and political catastrophes. But it was not until the Arab Spring sparked that I realized that we need profound change leaders. This became obvious after seeing how the lack of technical calibers contributed to the falls of almost all the post-revolution systems in the Arab Spring countries. I decided to invest in myself to become a technical change-maker in my region.” His career has reflected this commitment to leadership. Abdelgalil has worked as a gender and economic empowerment specialist at Plan International Egypt, specifically on the Strengthening Women Entrepreneurs in Egypt project. At Ashoka Arab World, he supported more than 118 social entrepreneurs working to solve the most pressing social problems in the Arab world to scale their impact, replicate their models, and change the systems of the industries of their fields.

While on the Professional Fellows Program, Abdelgalil completed his fellowship at the Department of Employment Services in Washington, DC. Here he learned about various interventions for empowering youth and wrote a concept note to secure a $5 million grant to support youth with disabilities. His fellowship taught him about the essential employability skills needed to prepare youth and women for the job market. Recognizing the social and economic benefits of educating women and girls, his follow-on project in Egypt included training sessions to empower girls in marginalized communities and speaking out on the importance of gender equity.

Abdelgalil received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Cairo University. In 2017, he was honored with the Lazord Fellowship from The American University in Cairo for his contributions to the social development field.

MR. HARUNAH DAMBA, UGANDA (ICI/University of Massachusetts, fall 2022)

Trained as a biomedical laboratory technologist, Harunah Damba is passionate about promoting employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities in Uganda, who are often overlooked and undervalued in the labor force due to their disabilities. Witnessing such attitudes was not only painful, he says, but also made him realize that his professional training and efforts alone were insufficient in addressing the underlying cultural and moral perceptions surrounding disability in Uganda. “This realization compelled me to commit myself to improving the employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities. As a result, I established the United Persons with Disabilities (UPWDs) with the goal of uniting people with disabilities under a common mission of self-transformation.” As the chair of UPWDs, he oversees strategic planning, grant writing, and staff and volunteer training. He ensures the effective implementation of projects and has implemented a monitoring and evaluation system to assess the impact and effectiveness of the organization’s programs and activities.

In addition to serving as the chairperson of UPWD, Damba is the founder of the Twezimbe Project for Inclusion in Uganda, an inclusive savings and credit cooperative organization that empowers graduates with disabilities through employment skills development. Damba’s commitment to disability empowerment shines through his active involvement in several prestigious programs, including the Talloires Network of Engaged Universities Next Generation Leaders Program and the Young African Leaders Initiative Regional Leadership Centre East Africa. He is currently a One Young World East African Ambassador and serves on the council of the U.S. Exchange Alumni Network in Uganda as an executive member.

MS. JIANG YI, CHINA (National Committee on United States-China Relations, spring 2017)

Jiang Yi has served as the child-friendly justice project manager at Save the Children China for nearly 10 years. During her tenure, she has established and overseen a pilot project focused on establishing a one-stop center for forensic interviews and protection for child survivors of sexual abuse. Additionally, she is leading a capacity-building project to enhance the skills of child protection caseworkers. Previously, she held the position of project manager at Give2Asia, where she was responsible for project design and grant-making from overseas to China, contributing to philanthropic initiatives in the country.

In early 2020, Jiang co-founded the International Alliance for Crisis Community Response (IACCR), a network consisting of 28 members from 11 different countries, including university professors, nonprofit practitioners, and local government officials. IACCR’s primary objective is to strengthen community-level crisis response capabilities through the establishment of volunteer groups.

Jiang holds a master of arts degree in law and studied at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. She is qualified as both a legal professional and a social worker in China. She was the first Save the Children China staff member accredited with Leading Edge in Child Protection by CACHE/NCFE.

Mr. LOUIS GOSELAND, USA (Fellowship Host for Great Lakes Community Action Partnership)

In August 2022, Louis Goseland returned from Illinois, where he was executive director of the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans, to his hometown of Wichita, Kansas, where he is building a new multi-faith justice ministry organization as a lead organizer with the Direct Action and Research Training Center.

Goseland grew up in a home and community environment in Wichita where the struggles of generational poverty and family separation, incarceration and violence, mental illness, and addiction were part of daily life. As the heartache of his younger years transformed into anger in his teenage years, he became increasingly interested in finding the answer to the question of why the good, worthy, caring people that he loved struggled every day.

Goseland began organizing as a student leader at Hope Street Youth Development, where he learned that by acknowledging and voicing the pain we experience in our communities, we can work together to confront broken systems through grassroots democratic action. After graduating high school, he worked with Sunflower Community Action as a neighborhood organizer, beginning his professional career.

As he approaches 20 years in this field, Goseland has helped launch two worker resource centers, a statewide grassroots electoral project, and has organized and consulted a multitude of coalitions, campaigns, and initiatives. He has worked as an organizer, consultant, trainer, director, and executive director for faith-based communities, labor organizations, neighborhood groups, and student-led efforts. Wherever he serves, he thrives in his commitment to extend to others the affirmation, dignity, and transformational empowerment afforded to him through community organizing.

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World Learning and the American Councils for International Education led the session “YES to UDL and Soft Skills: An Interactive Session on Curriculum Design” that showcased the Uzbekistan Youth Employment Skills (YES) program through an experiential learning event. The YES program, implemented by American Councils and World Learning, aims to equip youth with the knowledge and skills they need to contribute to Uzbekistan’s development by improving the quality of in- and after-school programming in economics, entrepreneurship, soft skills, and work readiness for secondary students.

“The session’s applied learning approach gave participants a practical demonstration of how quality teaching and learning materials, along with student-centered teaching approaches, can help young people gain foundational skills for future success,” said Yoder.

The session simulated a YES class, employing small group work and whole-class discussion followed by reflection, using a sample YES lesson. Facilitated by diverse YES team members including Deputy Chief of Party Shukhrathuja Amanov and an after-school club mentor, the session aimed to enhance participants’ understanding of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) implementation, interactive class activities, soft skills development, and experiential learning.

The YES program has created and is piloting an in-school economics, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship course for ninth through 11th graders, along with an after-school entrepreneurship and work readiness club for secondary school students. Teacher training has focused on experiential learning, student-centered classrooms, and UDL principles. The activity reaches 840 teachers and 31,000 learners in the pilot region of Fergana, and a randomized, controlled trial is using World Learning’s WorkLinks Skills & Values Assessment as one basis for measuring success.

“The YES program offers USAID staff a model for integrating 21st-century skills into the basic education curriculum that can be adapted elsewhere,” said Yoder. “This is challenging when the curriculum is already full and when it requires behavior change on the part of teachers. The simple structure of the YES lessons facilitates teachers trying out new ways of teaching.”

World Learning is a global nonprofit that works to create a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world through education, cultural exchange, and locally led development. Through a portfolio of nearly 100 programs, World Learning helps equip individuals and institutions with fundamental and 21st-century skills, intercultural understanding, and networks worldwide to solve today’s most pressing and complex challenges. For more information, visit worldlearning.org.

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SIT was officially established in 1964, 32 years after the launch of World Learning’s foundational youth exchange program, The Experiment in International Living. When President John F. Kennedy tapped program alumnus Sargent Shriver to become the inaugural director of the Peace Corps, Shriver turned to the Experiment to train some of the first Peace Corps volunteers. Out of that activity, SIT was born.

Today, SIT is the only accredited institution of higher education in the United States that is part of an international nongovernmental organization, World Learning.

“Over six decades, we have achieved accreditation as a higher education institution, expanded into a Graduate Institute, and built an extraordinary study abroad program, including the International Honors Program,” said SIT President Dr. Sophia Howlett.

With more than 500 faculty and staff around the world, SIT delivers undergraduate and graduate programs in nearly 30 global learning centers. These include SIT’s one-year, full-time Global Master’s degrees that each take place in two to three different countries. Students complete these programs with a practicum in a location of their choice.

“This global reach offers one-of-a-kind opportunities for in-person learning, cultural immersion, and face-to-face interaction with faculty, peers, and community partners whose perspectives are non-western and decolonial,” Howlett said. “This gives students the opportunity to form relationships and build networks that broaden their perspectives and foster invaluable cross-cultural understanding.”

SIT also offers part-time hybrid master’s and doctoral programs that give students the opportunity to earn an MA or a PhD without leaving their communities and careers. Some in-person courses for these programs take place on SIT’s iconic Vermont campus during the summers.

During its 60^th year, SIT will open registration for its second and third doctoral programs, PhDs in Sustainability and International Relations. SIT launched an EdD in Global Education in 2021. The first cohort of new PhDs from that program will graduate this year.

SIT has also debuted a new open-access, peer-reviewed academic publication called the Journal of Critical Global Issues. The title refers to SIT’s approach to its programs, which are developed around a framework of seven of the world’s most critical global issues.

In addition, as part of a local coalition of organizations, SIT and World Learning are helping to develop a thriving regional refugee resettlement program that has brought more than 300 refugees to southern Vermont over the past two years. As part of that effort, the Brattleboro campus serves as temporary housing for refugees when they first arrive in the area and SIT and World Learning faculty and staff provide English-language and cultural orientation classes for the new Vermonters.

“Refugee resettlement needs a whole-community approach,” said Carol Jenkins, World Learning CEO. “As pillars within their communities, higher education institutions have incredible potential in this context, and World Learning’s program in Vermont serves as a powerful model for others to follow.”

On April 5, SIT will hold a half-day 60th anniversary event on the Brattleboro campus featuring special guests, former Vermont Senator Patrick J. Leahy and his wife Marcelle Leahy. Before leaving the U.S. Senate in 2022, Leahy submitted a statement recognizing the global impact World Learning, School for International Training, and The Experiment in International Living have had over nine decades.

In it, Leahy said, “As the first stop in Vermont for newcomers from Afghanistan, Ukraine, and elsewhere, World Learning and SIT bring together staff, faculty, alumni, and neighbors to offer language, cultural orientation, and friendship in a program that is a national model for effective refugee integration.”

The 60th celebration will be supported by the Windham Foundation. The event will highlight Vermont’s unique role on the global stage, discuss strategies for how to grow and expand Vermont’s global future through global education, rural development, and new technologies, and celebrate Senator Leahy’s global legacy.

“SIT students and faculty started making a difference for our world from the day this unique and game-changing institution was created here in Southern Vermont in 1964, and they haven’t stopped for the past 60 years. Training Peace Corp volunteers, educating Nobel Peace Prize winners, changing lives and perspectives, and leading the way with bold innovative programs,” said Senator Leahy. “They are the gold standard of global education, and Marcelle and I are honored to be part of the SIT 60th anniversary celebration.” 

“SIT and the Windham Foundation share a nearly 40-year history of bringing together leaders in education and Vermont rural economic development,” said Ellen McCulloch-Lovell. “We’re honored to support SIT once again to celebrate their 60 years of innovative leadership in global education. The impact of SIT’s work both globally and also right here in our backyard is highly visible and effective. SIT students and staff have made our state stronger, more diverse, and more globally connected. We are richer for their 60 years of dedicated and groundbreaking work. SIT’s mission both parallels and reinforces Senator Leahy’s values and action over his long career. As his former Chief of Staff, I am especially pleased to celebrate SIT’s anniversary with him and Marcelle.”

From immersive undergraduate programs through terminal degrees, SIT provides exceptional experiential education at home and abroad. On every program, in every location, learners experience SIT’s commitment to its values of community, intercultural understanding, social justice, and sustainability. For 60 years, these values have grounded and guided SIT’s work to learn from and educate future global citizens to create a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world.

School for International Training (SIT), the academic arm of World Learning, was established in 1964 as a training center for the first Peace Corps volunteers. Today, SIT is a U.S.-accredited global university offering undergraduate study abroad programs including the comparative International Honors Program, and globally focused graduate degrees and certificates. SIT prepares students to be effective changemakers and global citizens through experiential education focused on the world’s most critical global issues. For more information, visit sit.edu.

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Through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, World Learning has been one of eight implementing organizations of IVLP since 1986. It won the recent award as the result of a competitive bidding process.

“We are pleased to continue this longstanding partnership with the U.S. Department of State on IVLP,” World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins said. “World Learning believes in the transformational capacity of exchange programs like IVLP to solve some of the world’s most complex issues such as global economic development and international security.”

Each year, World Learning brings more than 685 visitors from more than 140 countries to the U.S. for IVLP. Participants explore topics ranging from women and entrepreneurship and combating human trafficking to global pandemic collaboration and wildlife conservation. In the process, they foster professional networks and help strengthen U.S. engagement with countries around the world.

“IVLP provided me with a unique platform to gain in-depth knowledge, insights, and practical skills related to entrepreneurship and small business development,” a 2023 program participant from the Middle East and North Africa region said. “The curriculum, workshops, and interactions with successful entrepreneurs and industry experts have been invaluable in shaping my entrepreneurial mindset and expanding my horizons.”

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World Learning is pleased to announce that five new members are joining its board of trustees: Elana Aquino, Brandolon Barnett, Spencer Boyer, Travis Feldler, and Sean Kirk. Coming from international development, technology, social impact, government, law, education, and finance sectors, the new trustees bring a wide range of experience and leadership that will help World Learning further its mission.

“Our new trustees will bring invaluable connections and expertise to our global network,” said World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins. “World Learning and School for International Training support individuals around the world to solve the most critical global issues of our time through a framework of human connections and education. With a breadth of skills, leadership, and relationships, our new board members will undoubtedly help us strengthen the important work we do.”

Elana Aquino has 20 years of experience as a practitioner and academic in international development, diplomacy, and global peacebuilding. She is the U.S. executive director at Peace Direct and a fellow for both the International Career Advancement Program and the International Peace and Security Institute and a board member of Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation. She has supported community-driven solutions for the return of internally displaced persons and locally driven women’s empowerment initiatives around the world.

Brandolon Barnett is an investor, author, and entrepreneur dedicated to merging technology and social impact to better move resources to those in need. He is the founder of The Regular App and is head of Innovation and Philanthropy at Giving Compass. He served as an elected advisory neighborhood commissioner in Washington, DC, and currently serves as a board member of Spur Local (formerly The Catalogue for Philanthropy). He actively mentors and invests in entrepreneurs of color.

Spencer Boyer is the deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy. Under the Obama administration, he served a deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs and as national intelligence officer for Europe in the National Intelligence Council. Boyer has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, a senior fellow or visiting scholar with numerous think tanks, and the director of the Washington Office of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

Travis Feldler is a technology executive and the founder and CEO of TechRow. He co-authored The New York Times Virtual Reality Curriculum Guide and is an editorial contributor to the Learning Network section. He serves as an advisor to DREAMS at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Harlem Renaissance Education Pipeline. As part of World Learning’s student research program in Oman, Feldler conducted research on political and economic development in the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

Sean Kirk is a private investor and has worked on debt financing for Boeing, The World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, the government of Israel, and the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), among others. He worked as a proprietary trader specializing in distressed mortgage and asset-backed debt and started the structured trading department at Seaport Global Securities. Kirk is a board member for International Medical Response and previously was a board advisor to Women’s Emergency Network.

World Learning Inc. is a global organization that works to create a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world through international education, cultural exchange, and sustainable development programs. It is comprised of World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization; The Experiment in International Living, a pioneer of abroad and virtual youth exchange programs since 1932; and School for International Training, a global university offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs, including the comparative International Honors Program and globally focused graduate degrees and certificates. For more information, visit worldlearninginc.org.

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With backgrounds in child rights and protection, service to the most underprivileged in society, legal aid for criminal defense and public interest litigation, and community arts education, the Alumni Impact Award winners will return to the Professional Fellows Congress to share their experiences and achievements, as well as the tools and skills they applied to their work after their fellowship, with current Fellows. 

The Professional Fellows Congress will be held in Washington, DC, on October 10-13, 2023. 

Dr. Ana Majko, Albania (Great Lakes Community Action Partnership, October 2019)

Dr. Ana Majko has more than a decade of experience in the field of child rights and protection, implementing services for children at high risk, running day centers for children, and providing emergency services for children and parents in need for protection and treatment. She is an expert and trainer on issues related to child trafficking, exploitation, abuse and maltreatment, case management, and emergency response. Since 2016, she has been the executive director of the Initiative for Social Change (ARSIS), a local organization in Tirana focused on strengthening child protection systems in Albania, building community empowerment and engagement, designing and piloting new services, and building capacity in child protection, advocacy and lobbying and policy development in cooperation with public and nonpublic institutions.

Majko spent her fellowship at the Alliance for Quality Education in New York focusing on advocacy campaigns to fight discrimination and budget cuts in New York schools. Upon returning to Albania, Majko was able to apply advocacy techniques for child rights in three community centers, integrating her knowledge and increasing the impact to the community by empowering community members.

Majko is a co-author of in-service modules for child protection; the author of several publications and presentations in national and international conferences; a researcher involved in different studies with a focus on victims of abuse and children at high risk; and an activist for child rights protection in Albania. She graduated in 2008 as a psychologist at the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology (DPP), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana and received a master of sciences degree in organizational psychology at the same faculty in 2010. She received her Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Tirana, in 2018. In June 2023 she graduated from the Vienna University of Economics and Business in Austria, with a master’s degree in social innovation and management.

Saurav Rimal, Nepal (World Learning, October 2018)

Prior to participating in the Professional Fellows Program in 2018, Saurav Rimal worked with the Investment Board Nepal as a communication officer where he was involved in media management and coordination with various government agencies. But the Professional Fellows Program broadened his global perspective, motivating him to make a deeper contribution to society. For his fellowship Rimal was posted to the Ohio State House, where he met the Speaker, Members of Parliament, Chief Justice, and White House officials, gaining a wider understanding of the power of government and public-private partnerships.

Upon returning to Nepal, he established Discover City, which provides smart solutions to government and non-government agencies. Rimal also founded the Karmayog Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic agency working in the remote areas of Nepal with a commitment to “selfless service to the helpless.” The foundation works to improve literacy, reduce environment degradation, and uplift the living standards of the most underprivileged. Currently, he is President and Community Development Director at Karmayog Foundation. The foundation is also involved in animal welfare and relief assistance. The U.S. Embassy in Nepal called Rimal a “champion for community animals during the COVID-19 lockdown,” as he and other volunteers fed more than 200 monkeys, 150 dogs, and several cows in the Kathmandu Valley from the early days of the lockdown, even while he partnered with Smile Nepal to distribute relief packages to those hardest hit by the pandemic.

As a result of his tireless efforts to serve, the Rimal’s work has been recognized by several institutions and national and international media. He participated in TedX Durbar Marg, and is a motivational speaker on Nepal TV and various other forums. He was awarded with the prestigious Dr. BR Ambedkar Award 2021 in India , the Global Youth Leadership Award 2022 in Bangkok, and the U.S. Volunteers Medal in 2022. In recognition of his social work, he received the Samaj Sewa Ratna medal in 2022 from the President of Nepal. Rimal is an alumnus of Stratford University, Virginia, with a B.Sc. in Business Administration.

Sandy Wong, China (National Committee on United States-China Relations, November 2022)

A professional lawyer from China, Sandy Wong has represented public interest litigation in China, and has worked as a legal aid lawyer in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for years. He has also represented Uyghur defendants in criminal cases multiple times. At the same time, Wong has also represented parties in environmental protection litigation, smoking control litigation, underage campus bullying, and other issues.

Wong participated in the Professional Fellows Program in November 2022 and spent his fellowship in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Tubman, an organization that advocates for the rights of women and children. Tubman’s slogan is “hope, help, and heart.” During his internship at Tubman, Wong deeply felt the professional spirit of American NGOs; whether fundraising, material procurement, victim acceptance processes, court hearings, or post judgment placement, all of these processes were rigorous.

The biggest lesson he gained from the Professional Fellows Program was that working in law can effectively help others, and the reward he received was the opportunity to participate in the Professional Fellows Program in the middle of his career. After participating in the program, Wong became more determined to continue working as a defense lawyer.

Wong received his master’s degree in human rights from Peking University sponsored by the Swedish Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. He spent three years in Xinjiang participating in a legal aid program sponsored by China’s Ministry of Justice. His main job was representing people with disabilities and ethnic minorities. He currently works as a partner in an independent law firm, mainly engaged in criminal defense and public interest litigation cases. He maintains long-term cooperative relationships with environmental protection NGOs, smoking control NGOs, and the China Legal Aid Foundation.

Martin W. Nagy, USA (Fellowship Host for Great Lakes Community Action Partnership)

Martin Nagy is founder and Executive Director of the Arts Council Lake Erie West (ACLEW), a nonprofit regional  community arts agency in Toledo, Ohio, that was created in 1983 with a mission to build creativity in the community, increase cultural participation, and engage people in the arts experience. Nagy is active internationally, consulting, escorting, and conducting workshops through U.S. Department of State-funded programs with Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

Since 2013, Nagy has served as a trainer, mentor, and escort for all the East European delegations that have visited the U.S. through the Great Lakes Consortium/Great Lakes Community Action Partnership (GLC/GLCAP) on their Professional Fellows Program. He has also led U.S. delegations and conducted arts-based community organizing workshops for youth and adults in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia as part of his outward-bound exchange program. Nagy is the designer and chief editor of five volumes published under the title Taking Action, Changing Lives in Minority Communities, which are about GLC/GLCAP Professional Fellows Program activities.

Prior to working in international arts, community arts, and arts education, Nagy founded and chaired the Fine Arts Department at Maumee Valley Country Day School where he taught visual arts to students in grades preK-12 for fourteen years. He also started and taught various arts and teacher training programs for the University of Toledo, Toledo Public Schools, Lucas County Educational System, the 577 Foundation, and Spectrum Friends of Fine Art.

In 2002, Nagy received the Ohio Governor’s Award for his outstanding leadership in arts education. Other awards and honors include being inducted into the Cum Laude Society of Maumee Valley, into Phi Delta Kappa as an Outstanding Friend in Support of Arts and Education, the Roy C. Start High School Hall of Fame, the Outstanding Community Leadership in the Arts Award from the Toledo Federation of Arts Societies, the Outstanding Northwest Ohio Art Teacher of the Year by the Ohio Art Education Association, the Community Impact Award, and the Individual Artist Award from the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo.

Nagy completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1971 from Bowling Green State University and did graduate work at Ohio State University in arts administration, and completed a master’s degree in public administration at the University of Toledo, Ohio. He remains abreast of current arts and arts education affairs by maintaining professional association memberships, conducting presentations, and attending professional association workshops.

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The Experiment Digital Leadership in STEM is implemented by World Learning and is supported by the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative (JCSVEI). JCSVEI is a U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs program administered by the Aspen Institute.

Virtual exchange connects young people from diverse places using everyday technology for collaborative learning and interaction through sustained and facilitated engagement. Through virtual exchange programs, young people have access to life-changing opportunities that can shape their trajectories, bring new friends into their lives, and expand their worldviews. Virtual exchange is a vital learning tool with the capacity to connect people around the world on an unprecedented scale without a need for travel.

“At a time when education remains in flux in a post-pandemic world, complex global issues are front of mind, and young people excitedly return to in-person gatherings, virtual exchange continues to be an important learning tool. By fostering unique online spaces for young people to come together over shared challenges and triumphs, virtual exchange moves us toward a more connected and inclusive world. These new grantees play a critical role in making this possible, and participants of this program will undoubtedly approach the future with the belief they can impact their communities and the world around them,” said Christine Shiau, executive director of the Stevens Initiative.

World Learning’s The Experiment Digital Leadership in STEM is a six-week virtual exchange program that empowers high school-aged participants in the U.S. and the Middle East and North Africa region to refine digital skills, explore career paths in STEM, and develop leadership competencies, while establishing cross-cultural connections. Participants explore the intersections of how they can develop their skills, give back to their communities, and pursue a fulfilling career. The final capstone combines participants’ individual and academic aspirations in a project plan pitch through which they apply their interests in STEM to address and improve local challenges.

“For young people living in remote or rural settings, or who don’t have the financial resources to travel, virtual exchange offers a door to global awareness and skill-building that can enhance college readiness, expand employment opportunities, and contribute to personal growth,” said Carol Jenkins, World Learning CEO.

The 2023 grantees will reach 20,000 young people across the United States and MENA region. Other grants include:

• Amideast’s Qisasna facilitates cross-cultural exchange between young people in the United States and Yemen by providing them with the skills they need to produce podcasts on shared challenges and opportunities between youth.
• An-Najah National University’s Climate Futures Exchange is a classroom-based exchange that engages students from An-Najah National University and Arizona State University to discuss a range of climate change issues and strategies to address them when designing and implementing new buildings.  
• Arizona State University’s Future Educators for Inclusion engages college students from Morocco and the United States through mutual discovery, shared learning, and local action to address the global challenge of disability inclusion as they prepare to become classroom teachers.
• Culturingua’s Alliance of Young World Actionists engages young American and Libyan leaders focused on local and global public health challenges and their causes.
• Global Ties KC’s FIRST Robotics Virtual Exchange connects participants from Libya, Morocco, and the U.S. through cultural exchange and technical sessions related to STEM and robotics.
• iEARN-USA’s Storytelling for Social Change builds global leaders by engaging Algerian, Tunisian, and American youth in global collaboration to tell stories about real world issues in their local communities.
• Institute of International Education’s Harnessing Innovation through Virtual Exchange for Enhanced Results develops intercultural communication, problem-solving, and leadership skills among a diverse group of students at participating universities in the United States and Middle East and North Africa. 
• IREX’s Global Solutions places college students from the United States with peers in Iraq or Jordan in binational teams to collaborate on innovative solutions related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals through virtual exchange.
• Missouri State University’s Global Teacher Education Exchange brings new and future K-12 educators from Libya, Morocco, and the United States into a vibrant professional learning community where they engage in cross-cultural collaboration and prepare to teach for global understanding.
• PATHWAYS Institute for Negotiation Education’s Game Changers: Creative Negotiation Skills builds confidence and skills for creative negotiation, problem-solving, and leadership among university students coming together from Israel and the United States.
• Plugged In Band Program’s Peace Tracks is a cross-cultural, music-focused online youth exchange that provides high school students with an unforgettable opportunity to connect with peers in other countries to get to know them, learn about their cultures, and collaborate over the course of a semester on an original song.
• Smithsonian Science Education Center’s Smithsonian Youth STEM Exchange brings together young people in Iraq and Michigan, United States, to discover, understand, and find solutions to sustainability issues in their local and global communities. 
• Soliya’s Connect Program brings together college-aged youth in the United States and in the Middle East and North Africa for online, face-to-face dialogues in the presence of facilitators trained in dialogue and conflict resolution.
• Soliya’s Global Circles are short online dialogue opportunities, bringing together young people from the United States and from the Middle East and North Africa for a face-to-face exchange around compelling global issues that matter to youth today.
• Texas International Education Consortium’s Business & Entrepreneurship Virtual Exchange connects faculty from universities in Iraq and Texas, U.S., through virtual exchange, preparing them to implement project-based virtual exchanges on a variety of business and entrepreneurship topics in their courses that will develop key academic skills and cultural competencies.

The Stevens Initiative is an international leader in virtual exchange, which brings young people from diverse places together to collaborate and connect through everyday technology. Created in 2015 as a lasting tribute to Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, the Initiative invests in virtual exchange programs; shares research, resources, and promising practices to improve impact; and advocates for broader adoption.

Additional contacts:

Jon Purves, The Aspen Institute, Jon.Purves@aspeninstitute.org

Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, ECA-Press@state.gov

More information:

World Learning Inc. is a thriving global organization made up of World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization, The Experiment in International Living, the nation’s most experienced provider of intercultural exchange programs abroad and virtual for high school students; and School for International Training, offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad, including the comparative International Honors Program, and internationally focused master’s degrees, certificate programs, and a doctorate through SIT Graduate Institute. For more than 90 years, the organization has delivered international education, cultural exchanges, and sustainable development. For more information, visit worldlearning.org.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) builds relations between the people of the United States and the people of other countries through academic, cultural, sports, professional and private exchanges, as well as public-private partnerships and mentoring programs. These exchange programs improve foreign relations and strengthen the national security of the United States, support U.S. international leadership, and provide a broad range of domestic benefits by helping break down barriers that often divide us. Visit eca.state.gov.

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most important challenges facing the United States and the world.  Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

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Boeing’s creative educational frameworks, such as Curiosity Machine, 100 Days of Learning, FIRST Robotics, and FUTURE U, have also been used by World Learning’s STEM specialists to facilitate workshops. FUTURE U in particular provides educators with collaborative, experiential learning tools, and strategies to teach students to be problem solvers. Geared toward secondary-level students, FUTURE U uses creative, hands-on lessons to inspire innovative ideas.

The STEM Center has a talented team of STEM specialists who lead a dynamic group of nearly 300 trained volunteers across the country. The center’s ability to pivot programming in the face of challenges—and offer it for free because of support like Boeing’s—is key. It means World Learning can reach primary through university-level students from diverse backgrounds and geographic regions.

“The Algiers STEM Center allows youth to contribute potential solutions to real-world problems facing our environment and our future work spaces,” World Learning’s Algeria Country Representative Leah Bitat says. “Youth across Algeria should have access to high-quality STEM activities, and we aim to bring Boeing’s activities to as many regions as we can.”

“Boeing is proud to support World Learning in Algeria. Our program increases opportunities for Algerian youth to pursue STEM-related careers and prepare them to succeed in the workplace using a set of technical skills that boost their innovation mindset and push them to create new solutions,” Kuljit Ghata-Aura, president of Boeing Middle East, Turkey and Africa, adds. “Exposure to such disciplines early in their studies will help kids gain confidence and feel empowered to solve problems and change the world.

World Learning Inc. is a thriving global organization made up of World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization, The Experiment in International Living, the nation’s most experienced provider of intercultural exchange programs abroad and virtual for high school students; and School for International Training, offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad, including the comparative International Honors Program, and internationally focused master’s degrees, certificate programs, and a doctorate through SIT Graduate Institute. For more than 90 years, the organization has delivered international education, cultural exchanges, and sustainable development. For more information, visit worldlearning.org. 

As a leading global aerospace company, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. As a top U.S. exporter, the company leverages the talents of a global supplier base to advance economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing’s diverse team is committed to innovating for the future, leading with sustainability, and cultivating a culture based on the company’s core values of safety, quality, and integrity. Join our team and find your purpose at boeing.com/careers.

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World Learning is pleased to announce the addition of three new board members to its board of trustees: Dr. Mahesh Daas, Nicole Isaac, and Virgil Miller. The cohort brings unique viewpoints and valued expertise in their respective fields of higher education leadership and management, law, communications, strategic planning, and public policy.

World Learning’s Board of Trustees represents The Experiment in International Living, School for International Training, and World Learning’s global development and exchange programs.

“It is a privilege to welcome these accomplished individuals to our board,” said World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins. “Each has a strong track record of leadership and an array of skills that will help strengthen the organization. We greatly appreciate their commitment to World Learning and our mission to create a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world.”

Dr. Mahesh Daas serves as the eighth president of the Boston Architectural College. His career as an academic leader spans positions at diverse institutions including an Association of American Universities flagship university; two public, first-tier research universities; and an independent institution. In 2011, Daas became the youngest educator to be named an Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Distinguished Professor and served as the 2021-22 chancellor of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture College of Distinguished Professors. He serves on the editorial board of the Construction Robotics Journal and has authored several books.

Daas earned a doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania; a master’s degree in urban design from Kansas State University; and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, India. He also received executive certificates in business and nonprofit management from the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University.

Nicole Isaac leads the content safety domain for the Strategic Response for Emerging Regulations in

Knowledge and Information at Google. Before Google, she managed the International Strategic Response team in the office of the CEO at Meta, focusing on global risk mitigation, and served as senior director of North America policy at LinkedIn. Isaac also served in the White House as special assistant to the president for Legislative Affairs and as deputy director of Legislative Affairs for then Vice President Biden. Isaac founded Code the Streets, a social impact accelerator, to increase technology in inner-city communities and serves on the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. 

She has a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. She completed a master of studies degree in international human rights law at Oxford University and has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.

Virgil Miller is senior policy advisor for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. He has managed a coalition of advocacy organizations for independent workers and provided pro bono counsel to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. He serves as the representative of his firm’s African American General Counsel program, which strengthens relationships between the firm, general counsels, and other corporate leaders from Fortune 500 companies. Previously, Miller served in several congressional positions, most recently as chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Cedric L. Richmond. There, he approved strategies and tactics on legislative issues and advised members on compliance requirements and applicable federal laws.

Miller is a 2020 recipient of the National Minority Quality Forum 40 Under 40 Leaders in Health Award and a recipient of the 2008 Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust Staff Leadership Award. He is a current member of the Corporate Advisory Council, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute’s 21st Century Council. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s of public health degree in epidemiology from Florida A&M University.

World Learning Inc. is a thriving global organization made up of World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization, The Experiment in International Living, the nation’s most experienced provider of intercultural exchange programs abroad and virtual for high school students; and School for International Training, offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad, including the comparative International Honors Program, and internationally focused master’s degrees, certificate programs, and a doctorate through SIT Graduate Institute. For more than 90 years, the organization has delivered international education, cultural exchanges, and sustainable development. For more information, visit worldlearning.org.

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On June 23, 1932, sociologist Donald Watt launched World Learning’s flagship program, The Experiment in International Living, which focuses on intercultural exchange. This program led to the establishment of both School for International Training (SIT) and World Learning. The anniversary’s theme, “One World, Learning,” highlights how the organization’s distinct yet interconnected branches work to create a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world.

“We are all here to celebrate an organization that has made such a huge difference in our lives and the lives of lots of other people around the world. It has been a force for good and for peace for 90 years,” said Ann Friedman, an educator, conservationist, and philanthropist who participated in the Experiment as a student and group leader and served on World Learning’s board of trustees.

World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins and Board Chair Lawrence Cooley welcomed more than 100 guests at the museum, which was founded by Friedman in 2020.

“With each year, my belief in World Learning’s work to solve our time’s most pressing problems grows ever greater. We serve individuals around the world, in fragile and conflict areas, with different cultures, policies, governments, ideologies, resources, and risks,” said Jenkins. “Addressing complex issues through a framework of human connections and education is an effective and powerful way to make lasting change.”

Lee Satterfield, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the State Department, was also a featured speaker. Both Satterfield and Cooley noted that exchange programs are often born from conflict.

“Public diplomacy, through people-to-people exchanges, is more important now than ever, as our world continues to evolve and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and growing threats from around the world,” Satterfield said. “Program participants and alumni are confronting these issues head-on and are real leaders in their communities. We need these informed citizen diplomats to fight for change and build a more stable and prosperous world.”

World Learning began with Watt’s modest vision – that people could learn to live together by living together. He promoted peace through intercultural understanding by taking young Americans abroad to live with and learn from people of other cultures.

“I think it was a foresighted notion that somehow he knew that the world was either going to grow together or grow apart, and he was going to do his part to see that it grew together,” Cooley said. “He saw that somehow it is harder to hate people that you really know. And if you really put the extra effort in seeing the humanity in another person, there are possibilities that open up that just wouldn’t be there.”

Cooley also highlighted several milestones throughout World Learning’s history in his remarks but concluded with a reflection on today’s world.

“I think we’re in a situation where polarization is poison, where people think the worst possible things about the other. But if we are going to find our way through this, we need organizations as well as individuals that are willing to lead. And I can’t think of one that’s positioned themselves better to do so than World Learning,” he said.

Today there are more than 130,000 Experiment and SIT alumni. They include SIT Graduate Institute alumna Jody Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban landmines. World Learning Trustee Wangari Maathai won the prize in 2004 as the founder of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement. The founder of SIT’s CONTACT peacebuilding program was recognized by the Dalai Lama, and World Learning and SIT are currently partnering with a national refugee resettlement organization to house and teach Afghan refugees who fled the Taliban regime.

World Learning is based in both Vermont and Washington, D.C., and works in more than 150 countries worldwide. The Washington, D.C., event was one of several planned this year to commemorate the organization’s anniversary. Prior to the speakers, attendees toured Planet Word’s exhibits which aim to explore cultures and show how language has shaped the world.

“If The Experiment had taught me anything, it was that interaction with others and using words and language in authentic situations could help build bridges and create empathy. Those were the tools that could bring people closer and develop understanding across cultures,” Friedman said.

World Learning Inc. is a thriving global organization made up of World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization, The Experiment in International Living, the nation’s most experienced provider of intercultural exchange programs abroad and virtual for high school students; and School for International Training, offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad, including the comparative International Honors Program, and internationally focused master’s degrees, certificate programs, and a doctorate through SIT Graduate Institute. The organization is now in its 90th year delivering international education, cultural exchanges, and sustainable development. For more information, visit worldlearning.org. 

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SIT Professors Emeriti Beatriz and Alvino Fantini were honored on May 19 for their decades of service to World Learning and School for International Training during a celebratory dinner on the SIT campus.

“Tonight, we honor individuals who have given so much to our organization over the years—Beatriz and Alvino Fantini—two people who personify the words ‘international education’ and ‘intercultural understanding’,” said SIT President Dr. Sophia Howlett.

Between them, the Fantinis have dedicated more than 100 years of service to the Experiment, SIT and World Learning. Acknowledging the work Alvino Fantini has done to preserve and document the history of the organizations, World Learning Board Chairman Lawrence Cooley announced that the institutional archives, which are housed on the SIT campus, will be named The Alvino E. Fantini Institutional Archives.

“Bea once said, ‘I am a product of education abroad. Its rewards are immeasurable,’” Cooley said. “Bea, yours and Alvino’s contributions over these many years have rewarded us in immeasurable ways.”

The event was one of several planned around the world this year to commemorate the 90^th anniversary of The Experiment in International Living, the program that led to the creation of SIT and World Learning. It was attended by SIT alumni and the World Learning board of directors, current and former SIT and World Learning administrators, staff, and faculty, and family members of some of the organizations’ founders. State Rep. Michelle Bos-Lun, a SIT Graduate alumna, was among the guests.

Alvino Fantini began his association with SIT and World Learning as an Experiment program participant to Mexico in 1954. Nearly 70 years later, he said he remains in touch with his Mexican homestay family. “It changed my life,” he said of his study abroad experience. “It changes lives. We hear it over and over again.”

Today, he has a PhD in linguistics and language education, holds degrees in Latin American studies and anthropology, and has published widely on international education and intercultural and language learning. He also helped transform the Sandanona estate into the current SIT campus.

Alvino Fantini recounted how, when he helped start the archives in 2003, he and a team of volunteers scoured southern Vermont to retrieve photographs, documents, publications and other material from barns and closets, and even the trunk of a colleague’s car. She had been using the heavy file boxes as ballast during Vermont’s snowy winters. Today, the archives are comprised of 30 collections of material across three floors.

Beatriz Céspedes, the daughter of a Bolivian diplomat, was born in Italy, has lived in Peru, Venezuela, and Argentina, and speaks Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. She joined SIT as a Spanish teacher and Experiment co-leader in the 1960s. “I provided the first foreign accent to the institution,” she joked. “Now we have many.”

Beatriz and Alvino married in 1966. Over the years, both have served the organization in myriad roles including as staff, faculty, committee leads, advisors, and more.

Beatriz Fantini recalled how she taught Spanish to Experimenters, developed material for African language programs, and taught Spanish to members of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Red Cross. “These are some of the opportunities this organization has given to me,” she said.

Yet, some of her most rewarding moments as a teacher are connected to her return to the classroom just this year to help develop and deliver an English-language curriculum for Afghan refugees. “To teach and work with the Afghan refugees has been a highlight of my career,” she said. In SIT’s true experiential learning fashion, she said the reward came not just from helping refugees learn a new language, but also being able to learn about the culture and the people of Afghanistan.

World Learning Inc. is a thriving global organization made up of World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization, The Experiment in International Living, the nation’s most experienced provider of intercultural exchange programs abroad and virtual for high school students; and School for International Training, offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad, including the comparative International Honors Program, and internationally focused master’s degrees, certificate programs, and a doctorate through SIT Graduate Institute. The organization is now in its 90th year delivering international education, cultural exchanges, and sustainable development. For more information, visit worldlearning.org.

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World Learning’s Algiers STEM Center has taught more than 3,500 youth skills in computer programming, robotics, electronics, project design, and engineering, as well as trained 250 teachers on how to teach these skills in schools. From its inception, Boeing has provided ongoing support to the center, the first of its kind in Algeria.

Boeing’s educational frameworks, such as Curiosity Machine, 100 Days of Learning, FIRST Robotics, and FUTURE U, have also been used by World Learning to facilitate workshops. Most recently, FUTURE U has provided educators with hands-on, experiential learning tools and strategies.

“This partnership with World Learning demonstrates Boeing’s commitment to developing the future workforce of Algeria and its current skills, especially of women,” says Kuljit S. Ghata-Aura, president of Boeing Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. “Science and engineering hold important answers to key questions, like ensuring the planet’s sustainability, that we must address today.”

Boeing’s commitment to continue its partnership with World Learning will ensure youth in Algeria get access to high-quality educational opportunities both in-person and, since the pandemic, online. Activities at the center are free of charge and open to youth from primary through university levels.

“Algeria is the largest country in Africa with young people learning in our urban centers along the coast as well as people in remote mountain and desert villages,” says Leah Bitat, World Learning’s country representative in Algeria. “All of these youth should have access to high-quality STEM activities, and we aim to bring Boeing’s activities to as many regions as we can.”

World Learning is a global organization made up of School for International Training, offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad and internationally focused master’s degrees, certificate programs, and a doctorate through its SIT Graduate Institute; The Experiment in International Living, the nation’s most experienced provider of intercultural exchange programs abroad and virtual for high school students; and World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization. The organization is now in its 90^th year delivering international education, cultural exchanges, and sustainable development. For more information, visit www.worldlearning.org.

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World Learning is honoring its 90th anniversary since sociologist Donald Watt launched The Experiment in International Living in 1932. This flagship program focusing on intercultural exchange led to the establishment of both School for International Training and World Learning.

The anniversary’s theme, “One World, Learning,” highlights the interconnection between World Learning’s three branches, which all aim to create a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world through education, development, and exchange.

“As we honor our 90th year, our work has never been more relevant. With this anniversary comes an opportunity to honor our past, acknowledge the challenges of the present, and look with hope toward the future,” said World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins.

The Experiment in International Living began in 1932 with Watt’s innovative and modest vision – people should learn to live together by living together. He promoted peace through intercultural understanding by taking young Americans abroad to live with and learn from other cultures.

“Right from the first, the Watt trips were taken seriously, not as a form of ‘school,’ but as a different type of educational challenge – physically, mentally, and emotionally,” wrote Watt’s daughter, the late Phyllis Watt Ingersoll.

Ninety years later, that experiential learning approach remains the bedrock of The Experiment’s life-changing programs for high school students. It is also the foundational principle behind the organizations that grew from Watt’s original experiment: School for International Training, an accredited provider of undergraduate and graduate education on seven continents; and World Learning, a global nonprofit organization with education, development, and exchange programs spanning more than 150 countries.

The anniversary will include a series of events throughout 2022 that highlight the importance of intercultural understanding and inspire support for the work ahead.

World Learning Board Chairman Lawrence Cooley said that work is crucial.

“Around the world, our students and program participants, faculty and staff build innovation and hope from challenges – whether that’s conflict, the environment, or global health. Together, we are finding ways to learn and grow in our communities and countries. We are coming together to devise solutions and expand our understanding of one another. It’s clear to us that these solutions are essential, especially in today’s world,” Cooley said.

Still headquartered on a scenic campus above Brattleboro, Vermont, World Learning today also has headquarters in Washington, D.C., and program centers across the globe.

With some 70,000 alumni, The Experiment still sends hundreds of U.S. teenagers abroad each summer for life-changing experiences. SIT Study Abroad offers more than 80 undergraduate programs, including multi-country comparative programs through the International Honors Program. SIT Graduate Institute provides internationally focused graduate-level degrees addressing the world’s most critical global issues. And World Learning oversees programs with participants worldwide, including thousands of emerging leaders who come to the United States on international professional, academic, and youth exchanges.

“In the sweep of nine decades, we have grown and evolved, changed and innovated to address the critical needs and conversations of our times. We are one world, learning,” said Jenkins. “This year, we are inviting friends around the world to join us as we build on these accomplishments.”

In-person and virtual events, receptions, and programs will be held throughout 2022 and will be posted on World Learning’s 90th Anniversary website.

Moments in World Learning history:

• Immediately following World War II, The
  Experiment begins sending groups to western Europe to help rebuild communities.
  These were some of the first-generation community service and volunteer
  programs to
  be built into intercultural education. 

• Seeking to attract the most dynamic students
  from across the U.S., in 1940, The Experiment offers scholarships to young
  people from different geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds – a practice that
  continues today. More than 50 percent of Experimenters receive some form of
  financial support.

• The Experiment is a founding member of
  Federation EIL, Inc., an independent nonprofit organization that brings
  together a global network of organizations in 17 countries. Federation EIL
  members promote intercultural immersive experiences through homestays, study
  abroad programs, language training, and work exchanges. 

• In 1961, President John F. Kennedy names former
  Experimenter Sargent Shriver as the first director of the new Peace Corps. Shriver
  turns to The Experiment President Gordon Boyce to help train the first Peace
  Corps volunteers at Experiment headquarters in southern Vermont.

• In 1964, Peace Corps training activities lead to
  the establishment of an academic institution, School for International Training.
  Later, The Experiment’s Cooperative Overseas Program, a program for university
  students, evolves into SIT Study Abroad, growing to enroll more than 2,000
  participants annually.

• In the mid-1970s, the organization puts decades
  of experience into practice through a Projects and Grants unit that manages
  grant-funded assistance programs in developing countries. It also begins
  expanding its portfolio of international exchange programs. These two units eventually
  merge to become World Learning, the nonprofit global education, development,
  and exchange arm.

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Porticus has awarded World Learning a grant through the Education in Emergencies: Evidence for Action project. This new funding supports the implementation of the USAID QITABI 2 project and allows World Learning to build on its expertise in education program implementation with a focus on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).

For the “Towards a Social and Emotional Learning Policy for Children in Lebanon” project, World Learning is creating an SEL roadmap to strengthen Lebanon’s national and local education systems. This framework will equip policymakers to shape national SEL guidelines that positively impact more than 440,000 students across the country. 

A requirement of the framework is that it meets the needs of students, educators, and community members. World Learning is soliciting feedback from a broad range of stakeholders, which it will then use to analyze the current SEL programming in Lebanon. World Learning will also create a mechanism for stakeholders to collaborate on best practices. 

“Continuing and compounding crises in Lebanon require novel approaches to enhancing coping and life skills among schoolchildren,” Nadine Richani, regional director for Porticus MENA says. “Programs addressing psychological support and social and emotional learning for children are a critical first step.” 

“In recent years, Lebanon has experienced economic crises and political instability, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 explosion at the Port of Beirut. This has taken a toll on Lebanon’s primary students, especially children from low-income families,” says Dr. Wafa Kotob, chief of party, QITABI 2, and country representative, World Learning Lebanon. 

World Learning has provided technical expertise in Lebanon for nearly a decade on projects which expand access to education and improve learning outcomes in public schools.

World Learning is a global organization made up of School for International Training, offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad and internationally focused master’s degrees, certificate programs, and a doctorate through its SIT Graduate Institute; The Experiment in International Living, the nation’s most experienced provider of intercultural exchange programs abroad and virtual for high school students; and World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization. The organization is now in its 90^th year delivering international education, cultural exchanges, and sustainable development. For more information, visit www.worldlearning.org. 

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On January 19, HSBC Holdings plc and World Learning launched a new project to help Algerian youth manage their finances and earn an income.

In collaboration with local schools, student clubs, and youth organizations in 14 wilayas, the 21^st Century Financial Resilience through Education and Employment (21 FREE) project will train more than 600 community mentors to teach youth personal financial management and job skills. World Learning will provide technical support to the mentoring institutions and educators over the two-year program, which aims to train 27,000 youth.

Modules will cover budgeting, communications, critical thinking, and job search skills. Following a three-month pilot phase in Algiers, Sétif, and Ouargla, the program will expand to an additional eleven communities, targeting underserved areas.

“In the face of the socio-economic challenges in Algeria and around the world that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought, HSBC and World Learning are committed to equipping youth with the skills they need to build successful careers and contribute to the development of the local economy,” said Leah Bitat, World Learning Algeria country representative.

“One of the four pillars of HSBC’s global strategy is to energize for growth, which means investing to attract, develop, and retain the talented individuals who will lead business into the future by nurturing a dynamic and diverse culture for people who want to make a positive impact in the community. The 21 FREE program is aligned with the Algeria National Vision 2030 where HSBC is investing in local talent and the development of Algerians as future leaders in the banking and finance sector,” says James Fielder, CEO of HSBC in Algeria. “The aim is to facilitate opportunities, generate meaningful income, and instill effective planning and managing of financial capabilities for disadvantaged communities.”

World Learning has worked in Algeria since 2005, partnering with local institutions to bring high-quality education for youth in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), English, and career development. More than 20,000 Algerians have received support as they started careers or implemented community and business ventures.

Schools, student clubs, and youth organizations interested in partnering to host trainings in their communities can contact World Learning at FawziKara.Slimane@worldlearning.org.

To learn more about World Learning’s activities visit: algeria@worldlearning.org. For HSBC in Algeria visit business.algeria@hsbc.com, Nick Edwards, +971 54 309 6285, nick.a.edwards@hsbc.com.   

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On behalf of World Learning and School for International Training, we would like to thank U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy for nearly a half-century of distinguished service to Vermont, the nation, and the world.

Senator Leahy is the embodiment of the values that we seek to instill in our students and program participants—a true changemaker whose life and career are an inspiration to us all. During eight terms in the U.S. Senate, and before that as a state’s attorney, he has held fast to his convictions, and those of his Vermont constituents, with empathy and commonsense solutions.

Our state, our nation, and the world are better thanks to Senator Leahy’s unyielding advocacy for civil and human rights including protection for women, children, and the LGBTQI+ community; his unshakeable commitment to education; his vigilance in safeguarding our land, food systems, and natural resources; and his global leadership as a peacemaker.

As a 20-year member of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines/Cluster Munition Coalition and administrator of USAID’s Special Program to Address the Needs of Survivors, World Learning salutes the Senator’s career-spanning quest to ban the use and export of mines, his support for victims of violence and war, and his tireless advocacy for citizen diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges. For these and other outstanding accomplishments, we were proud to award Senator Leahy our 2012 Distinguished Global Citizen Achievement Award.

Announcing today that he would not seek re-election to a ninth term, the nation’s longest-serving senator said, “It is time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter who will carry on this work for our great state. It’s time to come home.”

We have been honored to call Patrick Leahy our Senator. We wish him and Marcelle health and happiness during the next chapter of their remarkable lives, and we welcome them home to a state made stronger and more resilient thanks to their extraordinary public service.

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World Learning has been awarded funding to administer the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (Global UGRAD Program) through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).  

In addition to the base award that will support approximately 265 students from all world regions, this year’s award also includes additional funds to support approximately 50 students from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries through the Billion Futures framework.  

“We are pleased to continue this longstanding partnership with the U.S. Department of State on the Global UGRAD Program,” said World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins. “World Learning believes in the transformational capacity of exchange programs like Global UGRAD to make the world more sustainable, peaceful, and just. We are particularly pleased that FY21 funding will support additional students from ASEAN countries and we look forward to supporting all students on this important program.” 

The Global UGRAD Program promotes mutual understanding by providing one-semester scholarships to outstanding undergraduate students from underserved and underrepresented communities in all world regions for non-degree, full-time study in the United States. Students attend accredited four-year colleges and universities and receive intensive English language instruction as necessary, as well as opportunities to engage in community service, professional development workshops, and cultural enrichment activities.  

More than 70 countries and other areas participate in the Global UGRAD Program each year. Students are hosted by approximately 80 U.S. colleges and universities in 39 states, which showcase the depth and breadth of the U.S. higher education system. In turn, students serve as cultural ambassadors of their home nations, share their culture with U.S. peers, and contribute to the internationalization of their host campuses.  World Learning will hold an open call for applications in early 2022 so that interested four-year colleges and universities can apply to become future Global UGRAD host institutions. Please email exchangeprograms@worldlearning.org for more details. 

The Global Undergraduate Exchange Program is a U.S. Department of State program with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by World Learning. 

World Learning Inc. is a thriving global organization made up of The Experiment in International Living, the nation’s most experienced provider of intercultural exchange programs abroad and virtual for high school students; School for International Training, offering accredited undergraduate study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad, including the comparative International Honors Program, and internationally focused master’s degrees, certificate programs, and a doctorate through SIT Graduate Institute; and World Learning, a global development and exchange nonprofit organization. 

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