THE new erA TRAVEL

Programs Adapt Postpandemic

GREEN SEED PODS OF okra are boiled, seasoned and prepared into obe lla, the Yoruba name for a flavorful stew and staple of Nigerian cuisine. Palo Alto High School graduate Oluwatunwumi Ogunlade grew up eating okra — but when she encountered the vegetable while on an exchange trip to Louisiana, she was startled to see it served pickled, a strange departure from the recipes familiar to her.

After graduating from Paly in 2021, Ogunlade spent a week of her summer living with a host family in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Ogunlade’s trip was organized and paid for by the American Exchange Project, a nonprofit that connects cohorts of high school seniors to hosts across the United States. Founded in 2019, AEP is part of a new era of exchange programs.

Paly’s first year participating in the program was 2021, and Ogunlade’s cohort was the first to participate since the program was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It [the exchange program] just made me more open minded,” Ogunlade said. “There were certain conversations I had that were pretty interesting, and being there helped me empathize with why people would think certain things about the world.”

The broader student exchange program industry has struggled to revive in the post-pandemic era.

Sarah Burgess currently serves as the president of Neighbors Abroad, a non- profit that has connected local students with host families in Palo Alto’s sister cities worldwide since 1963. When Burgess was a teenager, over 50 students (including herself) applied annually for their summer exchange to Oaxaca, Mexico. In the past few years, she’s struggled to fill a single spot.

“Last year, I did not have any students going [to Oaxaca],” Burgess said. “I truly beat the pavement trying to find students.”

Burgess points to multiple key factors in the declining participation, from the COVID-19 pandemic to a shift in priorities in local culture. As the academic climate surrounding college applications grows more intense — especially in Palo Alto — fewer students are seeking a longer experience focused on language and cultural immersion, and many of the students who are interested in exchange programs gravitate towards more expensive for-profit programs.

“Our real competition is with paid programs,” Burgess said. “People were paying $4,000, $5,000 for their kids to go on a pre-college program … or a short period of a service project with other students [from the U.S.]. I almost wondered whether there was a feeling of safety that you’re getting a better product if you were paying a lot of money.”

Participants in Neighbors Abroad’s exchanges are required to cover little more than approximately $1,000 airfare and chaperone fees, along with the costs of hosting a visiting student, and the nonprofit provides additional scholarships.

Despite these challenges, this year, things are looking up for Neighbors Abroad.

A cohort of 10 middle school students will visit Palo Alto’s sister city, Tsuchiura, Japan this summer in a Neighbors Abroad program not connected to the school district.

Prior to the pandemic, 16 local middle schoolers participated annually in Neighbors Abroad’s exchange with Tsuchiura. This summer’s trip will be the first between the sister cities since 2019. Additionally, the French teacher at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School is working with Neighbors Abroad to plan an exchange with Albi, France next summer, and has also begun a letter exchange with students there. Burgess cred- nese exchange, we just had persistent par ents who wanted to be involved in keep ing it ongoing,” Burgess said.

Japan’s COVID-19 restrictions limit Neighbors Abroad from ar ranging a complete exchange. Regardless, Burgess sees the upcoming trip as a signif icant step forward from lukewarm attempts at virtual pandemic-era experiences.

Even before the pandemic, the purpose and aims of exchange pro grams in Amer ica have been significantly evolving.

In 1956, the Eisenhower administration