FOREIGN EXCHANGE Families sought to host students

The foreign students will range in age from 15 to 18.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Families in the Youngstown area are needed to host foreign-exchange students.
The students will come to the area through the Future Leaders Exchange Program and the Partnership for Learning Youth Exchange and Study Program for 2005.
The goal of FLEX and YES is to provide an opportunity for international high school students to experience life in a democratic society to learn about volunteerism and free enterprise.
Foreign-exchange students who participate in the FLEX and YES programs can come to Youngstown to live with host families, attend school, engage in activities to learn about American society and values and help educate Americans about their own countries and cultures.
These programs place special emphasis on leadership skills and seek ways for participants to develop these skills during the school year.
The FLEX Program is funded by Congress under the Freedom Support Act and administered by the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Former Soviet countries
FLEX participants are high school students, ages 15-17, who come from the countries of the former Soviet Union: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The major goal of FLEX is democracy-building by exposing likely future leaders of these countries to our democratic society and free-market economy.
Also funded by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, YES is a high school exchange program that provides full scholarships for a year or semester of living and studying in the United States to people ages 15-18 from Egypt, Indonesia, Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines
The program's goal is to increase public diplomacy and address the unsympathetic view of the United States held in some countries around the world today as well as for Americans to learn more about predominantly Muslim countries and cultures.
To learn more about the FLEX and YES programs, or to host a student, contact Keli Rising at (800) 322-4678, ext. 5164, or by e-mail at krising@aifs.com.