San Francisco

When Brad was training for his job with Edward Jones, I remember dropping him off at the airport asking, "When do I get to take a trip?" Well, this was my time! Each year, AYUSA brings all the Regional Directors together for training meetings in San Francisco. They flew me down for four days packed full of meetings, trainings, and a wonderful time getting to know the other staff in our region, as well as staff from other parts of the U.S.

It was a very busy weekend, and I was exhausted when I got home, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Part of the training prepared me to place students that are coming through grant programs funded by the Department of State. AYUSA works with three different grant programs, and I will be placing students from two of those.

The Congress-Bundestag program is a reciprocal exchange between the U.S. and Germany. The kids go through a competitive application and interview process to be selected. The winners of this prestigious are hand-picked by the German parliament. I'll be placing three of these students this year.

The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program brings kids from the former Soviet Union to spend a year learning about democracy, free market, and volunteerism/community service. This scholarship is even more competitive, with 1600 out of 50,000 applicants being chosen. I'm very excited about placing students from these countries this year.