#yapsa

Amizade offers free student exchange program

By Julia Smucker Amizade Global Service-Learning

Lawrenceville – Amizade Global ServiceLearning,a Lawrenceville nonprofit, is accepting applications for its Youth Ambassadors Program with South America (YAPSA), a program of the statedept., Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, administered by Amizade.

YAPSA is an opportunity for high school students from Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia to travel to Bolivia and Peru free of cost. The three-week program will take place in summer 2015, and is open to high school students ages 15 to 18. Students will stay with local host families and will be accompanied by Amizade staff and two adult mentors.

The guiding goal of YAPSA is to buildindividual and collective leadership, problem-solving, and teamwork skills. Through this framework, participants will learn about themes of social entrepreneurship and environmental protection, participate in community service projects, and create a Community Action Plan (CAP) to implement in their home community. Students will also learn about Bolivian and Peruvian culture and historyand explore local sites. “The hope for this program is to make global exchange more accessible and attainable to a broader group of youths,” said Sara Noel, assistant director of Amizade. “Amizade and our partners are thrilled at the chance to encourage local students to discover and develop theirvoices as leaders in their communities.” Applications for youth ambassadors and adult mentors can be found on Amizade’s website, at www.amizade.org/yapsa. The deadline for applications is Feb. 23. Through YAPSA, students from Bolivia and Peru will also have the chance to travel to Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., and West Virginia this fall. Amizade is seeking interested Pittsburgh families to host students and adult mentors for ten days. Host family information and applications can also be found at www.amizade.org/yapsa. For more information, email [email protected] or call 412-586- 4986.

Originally published in The Bulletin: http://bloomfield-garfield.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Bulletin-February-2015-sm.pdf