When you’re in middle school and high school, you constantly hear, “Volunteer!", "Get more volunteer hours.", "You need them for college!” and as a student who is involved in sports year round, school musicals, choir, and working, hearing that you need to do something else added on top of all of your other activities is exhausting.

For a little over a year now, I have volunteered for AFS Intercultural Program. A little run down on the non-profit organization, it is a foreign exchange student program that sends and receives kids from all over the world. AFS has programs for kids as young as 12, high school students, and 18+. Programs can range from a two week program during the summer, to a semester abroad, to an entire year. The AFS-USA headquarters is based in New York, New York, but there are different chapters all across the United States.

I am a volunteer in the Northwoods Gateway in Northern Wisconsin. As a volunteer, I have tried to find host families, I run the snapchat, I help out at orientations and parties, and I have helped out at Arrivals and Departures. From the past year, I have met many students from all over the world and got to learn about their culture. My favorite part is hearing about their experiences that they have experienced in the United States so far and how so many things are different from their home country. All in all, I just love knowing the differences between our countries, and a lot of the students I’ve talked to give me tips for when I go to their country and places that I have to do to and tourists attractions that not a whole lot of people know about.

My best advice to anyone who is looking for volunteering opportunities, check out foreign exchange student organizations. You learn so much and it is an experience a lot of people never get to experience.