Virtual Exchange Students Give their Feedback
Arianah
U.S. Participant in the ​2021 Young Women's Intercultural Leadership Summit
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"The Summit taught me the importance of multicultural discussion. Having open conversation with people of different cultures allows for stereotypes and barriers between cultures to be broken. Also, open discussion leads to confidence. Talking openly amongst other people gives people an opportunity to be listened to and treated with respect, which builds confidence.
Intercultural leadership is being able to confidently communicate, listen to others, and share ideas with people of different cultures. Yes, the summit did impact the way I view my leadership. I was able to learn different about different examples of strength and courage from each of the girls, whether it be from their "My Stories" or just conversing with them."
Fatima
Moroccan participant in the 2021 Young Women's Intercultural Leadership Summit
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"Through my experiences with virtual exchange, I now can speak English confidently. I practiced more English and that helped me a lot.
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I participated in 2 exchanges because it a good opportunity to discover the other world without traveling. And by participating in these exchanges, I discovered so many things about America, without really being there. It's a good thing to discover others’ culture and others’ values, if you don't have the possibility to travel. We are living in a world which is about connection and we should connect to each other. We should know each other so that we will live in peace and if we understand each other we will live in peace."
Gavin
Participant in Norfolk Academy's exchange with Moroccan students
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"First of all, I would like to say thank you so much for helping to organize this experience for us. It's such a rare opportunity for us to get to meet and talk with people from a different country during our school day. I particularly loved the breakout room sessions where we had smaller, guided conversations with the [Moroccan] students... These conversations were so much fun, because we got to use our French and expand our horizons, which really made for an amazing way for us to start our school day. I really liked that the conversations didn't follow a strict format, but the list of questions we received really helped facilitate conversation and allowed us to connect during our short time together."
Avery
Participant in Norfolk Academy's exchange with Moroccan students
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"Thank you so much! This experience was such a valuable one that I will treasure forever. I got to practice my French in a real life setting which I have never gotten to do and I made two new friends! I think that the whole exchange was a great surprise. I did not expect to be so invested in the interactions that I had with the other students and I did not expect for every aspect of the exchange from the panels to the small group discussions to be so engaging! Thank you so much for facilitating all of this it was so wonderful!"