Foreign Exchange Students Say Good-Bye to America

Hundreds of students from around the world, who have been studying and living with families across America for the past year, will say their final good-byes to the Unites States at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.

The students, participants in the AFS Intercultural Program, will use the C.W. Post Campus for their "Departure Day" activities on Tuesday, July 8, 2003 from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The event is sponsored by AFS, a worldwide nonprofit organization dedicated to international and intercultural education. AFS provides opportunities for international educational endeavors through its partnership with 50 countries worldwide. Tracing its roots back to 1915, AFS exchanges more than 10,000 students each year. AFS has been awarded the United Nations Youth Award for service to children and was named by Money Magazine as the top educational charity in the United States.

This year, 2,600 teenagers spent a year living with American host families in hometowns and cities from Maine to California, attended high schools, made new best friends, and in many ways became American teenagers. How have their experiences changed their perceptions of the U.S and their lives? What will they miss the most? Their answers may surprise you.

Tomorrow, the students will assemble in the Hillwood Commons’ parking lot at C.W. Post after 5 a.m. to meet fellow students from their home countries and continue on to airports for their flights home. Students begin leaving between 6-9 a.m., and again from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Best interview and photo opportunities occur between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The C.W. Post Campus is located on Route 25A (Northern Boulevard), Brookville. For more information, contact Lynn O’Pasek in the C.W. Post Public Relations Office at (516) 299-2333 or Heather Zimmerman at AFS Intercultural Program at (212) 299-9000, extension 312.