Summer of Service - Week 3!

So, even though I have been doing computer work, I got sick this week and I didn’t work one day, which though made me upset, I could do a day on Sunday and log it, so it was a little bit “even”. The weather here in Virginia is a bit bad and I have awful allergies. L

I did lots of work with powerpoint and things like that, to make the information on the children more attractive to the eyes of the possible host families (here is one about this girl that I thought sounded SUPER cool!). I was extremely honored to have been given the opportunity to help Becky choose children who she thought would be appropriate to come to Richmond (I really felt super awesome. Don't forget that I was one of these kids years ago, and not everyone has the chance to have the relationship I have with Becky). The thing is, many children apply to the program, but not all of them get it. There are many things involved into coming to the USA for an exchange program. On a website that only coordinators have access, there are many children listed. One thing that Becky told me to do was to read about these kids and find things that could aid us in finding a family for them, such as being a competitive swimmer (so we could email swim teams), or a soccer player, and even an instrument player! 

There, you can visualize the student’s name, age, and country of citizenship. So, if Becky were looking for a Brazilian student, she would click and check the full profile. On the profile there would be things such as GPA, SLEP score, activities, religion, family size, and many other things. Even the student’s shot card (?) – it’s like when you have a vaccination and you get a stamp on it saying you received prevention against a particular disease? Ahahah sorry I have no idea how to say it! So, for example, Becky chose me (in 2010), because I somehow seemed interesting to her! What happens is that there are coordinators everywhere in the US, and they all share that list of kids, so who picks first, gets the child. Though, there is more than that to the job. After you pick the child, you have to find a "home school" for the student. Each school can take about 5 exchange students, who should all be on a J1 visa. Though, some schools have F1 students, which are students who are paying the school directly - these are usually students who attend a private school. 

Oh! I completely forgot, but last week when I tutored the girl for her SOL’s and finals.. well, she passed all of her SOL’s and scored the highest grade in the class for her Chemistry final! Wooooo!!!

Hope you guys are having a great week!!!

Andrea:)