 I'm Patricia Yusa, the Director of the Education USA Academy at the University of Colorado Boulder, one of the most innovative and beautiful campuses in the United States. Here at the Education USA Academy, students explore aerospace, engineering, health sciences, international business and psychology. A little bit about our business and financial breakdown. They work closely with successful local entrepreneurs to develop their own company and present to real investors. This is the buckle of the solar panel and these on the sides are the plugins. The fabric would cost around like $3 each fabric to make a belt. We give people the option to choose the material, the color of the belt and the shape of the buckle. You have three startups and they all failed. Not a single investor is going to say, oh you have three failed startups, I'm not going to invest in your company. They're probably more likely to because every time you've failed, you've learned something really valuable and you have an even better chance of success. As a team, what you need to know is how much do we need to spend to create something that will bring in more money so we can spend money to create more and how do we keep this loop going. We designed this entrepreneur project using a variety of disciplines so that the students get hands-on experience in creating something. They may not necessarily want to start their own business someday but you know if they're working for a non-profit or a government or some kind of Fortune 500 company they're going to have to influence people. They're going to have to identify problems and propose solutions. They're going to have to ask people for resources and the total cost is $1.17. These skills are transferable to anything that they want to do in life. Thank you. The presentation went really well. Well I think if you have a passion for something you don't need to take any notes with you and have cards in your hands. Just go for it. Boulder is this incredibly safe and welcoming place for people from all over the world. Pearl Street, so many cafes and musical performers and street performers it's safe to explore and discover new things. Growing up I always dreamed of going to the United States and I thought it would just be like that, a dream. But because of this scholarship this dream has turned into a reality. Before I came here I thought about maybe it's difficult to make friends and maybe I will have difficult time here because Austria and the United States are really far away. I was worried about being homesick, especially my parents. They said there are people all over the world, maybe they won't understand your culture the way you are thinking but it was exactly the opposite. The range of diversity here is incredible. There are 15 different countries represented from all over the world and every continent with the exception of Antarctica. I remember getting here and I was like I'm so tired I need to go to bed, I need to rest and then my roommate arrived coincidentally at the same time as I did and I was talking to him and I was like I pulled a 14 hour flight I was so exhausted and I was like yeah I pulled a 38 hour and I was like less than number one. The forensic exhibit is definitely the most interesting exhibit. Courtney arrived inside. It's not the same. Growing up I always read a lot of Nancy Drew Mystery books and that has fueled my passion for mystery. When I get older like for example let's say 50 I want to look back to my life and say I did it, I saw it and I felt it in my heart. That's my life passion. I mean we've been walking around hugging each other the whole day. It all happened in one month. That's what's surprising but I don't know because when they matched us up they did it perfectly right somehow. We were even surprised like we were so lucky. We came together this past month and sure we learned here to solve all the biggest problems in the world but we did talk and we did make each other better at some point and that's a little thing but that's something that already counts to make a change, to make an impact. And that's the head start we all need. Good afternoon and good evening. Welcome to our viewers joining from around the world. My name is Alfred Boll and I represent EducationUSA and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State in Washington DC. EducationUSA's goal is to provide international students with resources and information they need to identify colleges or universities in the United States where they are best placed to succeed. Our basic services for students are all free of charge. There are 550 EducationUSA advisors at 435 centers in 180 countries and territories around the world. Find us at educationusa.state.gov. Today's Facebook Live is a very special program on the EducationUSA Academy. The Academy provides a unique opportunity for international high school students to participate in a two to four week pre-college academic enrichment program on various US colleges and university campuses. There are 15 US institutions that currently host academy programs. All of them different and with unique opportunities for students to develop their academic and English language skills and have a real campus experience in beautiful parts of the country. Joining us in the studio today are Sally Conover and Jacqueline McCafferty. Sally is the director of the International Education Center at Diablo Valley College in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Sally has worked at IEC for 17 years and in international education for over 30 years. Jacqueline McCafferty is the director of the Intensive English Language Program at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In this role, Jacquie is responsible for recruitment, enrollment and program development. Ladies, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. During the program we will answer questions from our viewers. If you have a question that you would like to ask, please post it in the comment section below. We will do our best to answer all your questions during the program. I would like to start our discussion by giving a more detailed overview of the Education USA Academy. Sally, can you tell us more about the program and what the requirements are for international students? Sure, Fred. I want to first thank you for inviting us here today. What a great opportunity to talk about the academy. I'd also like to thank all of you, all of our viewers participating from around the world, and we hope that this is informative and gets you excited about the academy. So maybe I'll start with the five W's. The first of who is the academy for? This is for 15 to 18-year-old international high school students who are interested in studying in the United States in the future. Maybe want to learn more about the United States higher education system. We know that our system is quite different from many systems or most systems in other parts of the world. So it's a very good opportunity to get more information about the system here. And it's also a program for students with an intermediate to advanced level of English. The what? So the academy is an academic preparation program with 18 to 22 hours of class a week. Each of the academies is a little bit different, but there are some key features for all of them. Again, as I mentioned, one of the main goals is to have participants get more information about the system, how to apply to, into a university or college, and all of the many options and varieties of institutions that there are within the United States. Each of the academies, in addition to having obviously been on campus, there are also campus visits in the surrounding areas. So students will be able to have, see large campuses, small campuses and an urban setting and a rural setting. There are also opportunities for participants to do volunteer or service learning. Some students have done this already in their countries and others maybe this is the first time to have such an opportunity. We take students out to some of the wonderful national parks throughout the country. I know in our program we go camping. So for some students this will be a first time to ever go camping. Students either live in a dormitory or in a home stay and we'll be talking more about that later. And then there's also this experience is to, to be able to interact with the local community and also with local students in, in the area. The WEN. So we offer, the 15 academies offer programs in our summer beginning in June or July. And then there are a few programs that offer academies in our winter. So starting in January or February. Jackie will be going into more detail about the different locations but there are 15 different locations spread around the United States. So this is a great opportunity to see very, very different parts of, of the United States. Why? So again this is for somebody who's maybe thinking that down the road they would like to do a bachelor's degree or another program in the United States and this gives them a taste test before making a large and a long time term commitment of maybe four years. And then lastly how? Students are coming on a tourist visa or the B1, B2 visa and in some cases where they're sponsored by an embassy they would be coming on the J visa. It is a self-funded program although, so students are paying on their own. Although in some cases there are scholarships. There are scholarship opportunities from the individual institutions and then some of the embassies also offer scholarships. We always encourage students to find your local Education USA advisors for information about scholarship opportunities. So this is a brief overview of the program. Okay, thank you very much Sally. That's a great starting point. Can you help us understand what some of the benefits are for student participants? Sure, and we'll have some alumni of programs talking about their experiences. So from my experience as an institution and I think from the host institutions there's a number of benefits from the academy. First and foremost is the diversity. I know that students are coming from all over the world. So not only are participants having the opportunity to learn about the culture in their local area, their classmates are also from around the world. So the learning that goes on from that diversity is amazing. There's those differences but then there's also a commonality in that the students are highly motivated. They're inquisitive, they're curious, they want to do everything and that energy is contagious. So we find the energy coming from the academy programs is contagious to our other programs across the campus. An important benefit for students also is the making of contacts and we think of going to an academy as a first contact point and then those contacts and the relationships that are developed during the academy grow throughout somebody's lifetime. The academy is relatively young. It's around five years or four years now but we see alumni of the academy meeting each other in their home countries or meeting each other in a third country. We have students who have come back and talked to teachers and gotten their assistance as they're going through the university acceptance process. We have alumni who are also when they go back to their home countries are helping out at educational fairs and talking about their experiences and helping to spread the word which is also helpful for the student in and of for themselves. So they become mentors to other participants. So there's a lot of benefits for the students. And the last thing I would say about the benefits is because the host institutions are working with a slightly younger population. It's a very important time for the institutions to be in touch with what younger students want and how they're learning and how they're interacting with each other so we can use that to inform other programs that we have. Thank you, Sally. That's a super valuable perspective and it sounds like the academy is a program. Even if someone doesn't wind up coming to study in the US it's a great experience. Professionally, academically, very good quality programs. Jackie, let me turn to you. Now that we have learned more about the academy can you share your perspective on what international students should keep in mind when they're applying to the academy? Yeah, sure, Fred. So I think it can be a little bit overwhelming when you start this process. As Sally and you, Fred, both said there's 15 academies to choose from and so where to begin. So I like to advise students to begin by the location. What do you like? Do you like a big city? Do you like a small city? Do you like mountains? Do you like rural? Look into each of the universities and make sure that you're in an environment that you are going to be comfortable that you feel like you are going to thrive. So that really is the first point that I advise students to start with. The second point is to look at what the academy offers. So as both of you said, Sally and Fred every academy has similar criteria, similar components, right? So it's a pre-college program. There's going to be cultural activities. You're going to visit other colleges and universities. There's going to be some classes. You'll learn about American culture. So that's great and everybody's going to have some version of that. But once you look at each of the academies you'll see that some do focus on certain disciplines. So there are some academies that will focus on STEM. Some will focus on business and entrepreneurship. We focus on art, music and film. There is aeronautics. I mean there's a lot of different types of things that you can focus on and if you have an idea of what you want to study then maybe you want to look at a program that maybe has that and you get an idea of what that might be like when you're studying at a college or university. So it sounds like Jackie, I mean students have both lots of different places that they can choose from but the specific programs themselves that can be fascinating different windows into very fun things. Aeronautics and that's fantastic. The academy program accepts international high school students as young as 15 years old. You mentioned Jackie. What would you say to parents who are interested in the program but are also, you know, who might be concerned about their child being away from home or like about safety issues, things like that. Right, yeah. So I can say for us and I know for Sally and every other academy safety is the number one priority. You know, I know I'm a parent and so I put myself in the shoes of parents who are sending their children to us and so how would I want my child to be treated and what safety precautions would I expect. So I think as parents the thing to do is to look on the university website and you'll get a sense of the safety precautions that the university in general takes, right? So every university here takes safety very, very important, right? So you're going to find that there's a security team on campus. Some campuses have their own police force. There's shuttle systems. So if you're not comfortable walking around by yourself you can take a shuttle or an escort service, something like that. So generally speaking campuses are very, very secure. Now when it comes to minors then we go that extra mile, right? So now what are we doing because a minor is anybody who is under 18 years old? So for example if it's in a residence hall you're living in a minor dormitory, a residence hall that's only for students who are under 18. Everybody involved has a background check. Same thing if you're living at a homestay with an American family there's background checks to make sure that the setting is very safe. From the point that your child comes here they are picked up at the airport and they really are never alone again in terms of just always having somebody there with them to make sure that they're safe. All of the programs have chaperones and I know in our case the chaperones are 24-7. They live in the residence hall. We train them to deal with emergency situations but we also train them to deal with culture shock, home sickness, all of these things. We do things like the buddy system. You know, don't leave the residence hall without your buddy. Who's your buddy? So there's a lot that we do to make sure that the student is safe and keep in the parents in mind that it's something that we know parents would feel comfortable setting their child to us. That's great. So you've thought about the details of... We've thought of every detail, Fred. Yeah, I can imagine. It absolutely sounds like it. So it still is really attractive and fun for students and parents can rest assured that in fact the colleges and universities are really taking the well-being of anyone on the program as primary. Exactly. That's fantastic. Thank you very much for sharing that information, Jackie. I now want to introduce a surprise guest who is joining us virtually from Curitiba in Brazil. Larissa Vanzu is an international high school student who participated in the academy's winter session this past January. Hello, Larissa. Hi, nice to hear you. Can everybody hear Larissa? Yeah, I can. Excellent. Great. So we are really eager to hear about your experience with the academy. Can you tell us why you chose the program you did? So I guess it all started when I was looking for something to do during my vacation. And when I was searching for a program I could either find something that focused too much on learning English or just having fun in some city. And when I found the academy I noticed that it was just perfect for the while I wanted because we would both have fun and I could improve my English. And also there was this that we would learn about the system of education in the US. And that's something really important for me considering that I wanted to college in the US. And another reason that helped me choosing the academy it was its high integrity. Since the beginning I could notice that there was this concern of us meeting the teachers before so we could get familiar with them and we didn't feel lost. And also during my time in the academy there would always be someone available for us to help us and make sure everything was okay. And the academy definitely filled everything that was promised and even more. That's fantastic. Can you tell us what was your favorite part of the program? Well I loved the activities and the classes we took about the activities. I had a particularly one that was my favorite. It was when we visited a tech company and I mean we were in Silicon Valley so that was just a unique experience. And also when we visited universities I could see different types of campus and well now I have a better idea of what I want to do for my future. I can consider different kinds of universities. And about the classes they not only helped me learn more on my application process and improve my English but now I know how to do college assignments better and everything. That's fantastic. Well congratulations on your English as well because you've done a great job and I'm really happy to hear what a great experience you had in the academy. Thank you for joining us on the program Larissa. We're grateful you have you. It is now time for us to answer questions from our friends on Facebook. Many viewers are asking about scholarships. How do students apply for scholarships to the Education USA Academy? Jackie, can I ask you about that? Sure, yeah. So there's two types of scholarships. Some of the institutions who have the academy will offer their own scholarship. And I think the best way to really learn about that is to just ask the institution. So when you reach out to them ask them if they have scholarships and they will step you through that process for how to apply for that. There's also other scholarships available and I would say to really talk with your Education USA office and learn more about some other scholarships that might be available. That's a very good point that there's Education USA all around the world. You have local experts who can talk to you about the academy. Yes. Thank you very much. Our next question is from Arsene Katawa who would like to know what are the different requirements for a student to apply to the academy? Sally, can I ask you that? Sure, so again the age and the academy is for 15 to 18 year olds high school students. So those are to still be in high school and to be in that age. And then the English level requirement that actually varies a little bit from academy to academy and again each of the academies it specifies what their requirements are for the English language requirements. And there aren't, there may be a few other specific requirements from specific academies but it's an excitement and a desire to explore and also a little bit of a desire to be a little bit independent. So this program unlike some other programs is not one where you come with a group. For the most part you're coming on your own so that sense of adventure that you will be well taken care of but it is a little bit of an adventure is maybe helpful. That's fantastic and that definitely links to what Jackie was saying that students need to look at each of the academy programs and see what they offer because they can be a little bit different. And so the general thing is the same but what you're going to be doing specifically where you'll be what the program is focused on maybe what the English language level requirement is might be a little bit different but my sense is that there's something for everybody. Is that about right? That is because we have 15 different programs one of them is going to be right for you if you're looking at them. Yeah, I think so. That's great. Sorry Jackie did you want to add? I was just going to say another criteria might be a teacher recommendation. I've noticed that a lot of institutions do ask for or a lot of academies ask for a teacher recommendation. So something to consider. And for those students listening that is something that EducationUSA can also help you with. We understand that systems around the world are different and that not everybody is used to writing a recommendation. So our advisors can help speak to your teachers about what that is and how to do that. That's something that our advisors do around the world also for students who are applying to US and colleges and universities as a general issue. So our next question from our viewers is how much does this program cost and what does tuition include a very important good question. Jackie. Okay, so the price ranges but I believe and Fred correct me if I'm wrong that it will never go over $6,000. Is that correct? Yep, that's right. Okay, so it ranges up to $6,000 and it includes absolutely everything from the moment that you land on the ground. So not the flight to and from home country but from the moment you land on the ground you will be taking care of meals, transportation, where you are living, the classes, all of the books and materials. And I assume activities too like if you go out. All of the activities are included the transportation to get to and from the activities any entrance fees to museums all of that it is absolutely included and so really all that a student would need to bring is whatever spending money that they would want to bring. In addition to... In addition to all of that if they wanted souvenirs for example. Right, so everything and that's nice so parents know that essentially it's one fee and then everything is taken care of. Yes. Okay, thank you for the question. So then our next question is is this an intensive English program with formal English grammar courses? Sally. I would say no. There is an element of improving your English language skills primarily in the area of academic English skills and academic skills those things that are needed for success at a university or a college. But it's not what you would think of as an intensive English language program with an hour of grammar or an hour of reading and writing it's a more holistic program yes working on English language skills writing, presenting writing an essay those type of things but not a traditional ESL, EFL course. It's not focused just on English but it's focused you get the English by doing it's in a way by being there your English is going to get better because you'll be writing essays you'll be speaking you'll be doing all those things and I assume that instructors are focused on improving English as part of it. That's right. Is that right? That's not the way it's structured. No, that's a great answer. Thank you. Our next question is related to this I am a native English speaker is this program for me? Jackie do you want to take that? Yes. Yes. Yes it is. So it is for anybody I think and again going back to the requirements that we talked about just look at the academy that you're interested in to see what the requirements are but I would say it's for anybody as long as you meet whatever that minimum language requirement is and from that all the way through to a native speaker because of the types of activities the types of classes the types of learning it's experiential, right? So a native English speaker an intermediate speaker everybody will get something out of this and will be exposed to a university or college environment and beyond and the American culture and everything else. The types of maybe exercise it's activities, homework whatever that might be can be differentiated based on the level of proficiency so that's important to note as well. That makes a lot of sense and teachers I assume are focused on the different levels. They're helping everybody learn together and everybody is improving herself or himself at the same time. Exactly. Okay, that's great. Our next question is from Osvaldo at Ibeo Serra in Brazil. Osvaldo is asking how is tuition paid? Can one pay with a credit card? That's a very good question. Very practical, exactly Sally. Maybe you can speak from the perspective from your program's perspective. Sure, sure. Yes, yes, yes and yes, right? As far as payment is concerned we try to make it as easy as possible. Students pay with credit cards they might do a wire transfer a bank to bank wire transfer. In our program for example full payment can be done upon arrival so again there are differences amongst the programs of how the payment is made. I would say the majority of our students are paying in advance through a credit card. Okay, so that's very common. Same here. Okay, so schools have lots of flexibility working with payments but credit cards are common. Yes. Piles of cash is not recommended. No, not good to transport. Myel and Mina is asking is there an option for payment plan for the academy so I guess could you pay over time? And I think that would depend on the individual academy. The institution, right? The university. Yeah, yeah. Okay, that's great. So a bigger, kind of a big picture question how do I pick which academy to apply to? Probably the very hard question. Jackie do you want to tackle that? Sure. Well like I said earlier I think you really want to a good place to start is the EducationUSA website that lists all of the academies and then there you have them all in front of you and you can see where the academies are and like I said earlier try to find one in a location that you know you're going to be comfortable if you know you don't like big cities don't choose an academy in a big city you're not going to be comfortable, right? So that's one place to start and then look at what each academy offers so like we said all the academies have very similar components but then there are the differences that they have to offer as well so pay attention to what those differences are because one of them might speak to you more than another once you identify one that really stands out to you then I always recommend reach out to that academy and start communicating with them and get your detailed questions answered to make sure that you're truly comfortable with the decision That's very good advice so do your research it's not hard it's all on the EducationUSA website and then reach out to the academy ask them some questions don't be shy, right? And if I could add I think a lot of the academies have testimonials from alumni and they can also put you in contact with former students who may be in your country but not in your city so again doing that pre-work of asking questions and then hopefully being able to be connected to people who could give you more specific advice and their impressions That's great advice so alumni, people who can like Larissa that we just heard from who can give you a direct perspective and probably we can even link parents to parents so our EducationUSA advising centers can certainly link parents to other people who have been whose children have been through this experience and might want to get a perspective from that way as well from that side That's great so a very specific question well I have a roommate during the program and what are the housing accommodations like? What's a dorm like? Jackie do you want to that's a dorm life it's one of those things you see in movies, right? Right, exactly and it's exciting so in our case everybody does have a roommate or at least we try for everyone to have a roommate and we are intentional with how we room people together we get some background information on you so that we can have hopefully the best pairing possible and typically your roommate becomes your closest buddy, right? You really start to learn about each other and Sally as you said it's so diverse your roommate will likely be somebody from a completely different country that you've never been to or maybe never even heard of and so what you learn is amazing through that roommate experience and dormitory life is exciting because you are living in a building with all other people your age so in our case our international high school programs are also living in the same dormitory as the domestic American high school programs so you're all living together and getting to know each other and there's always activities going on in the residence halls as well so there's a lot to do it's a lot of fun Okay that's a great perspective and it's nice to hear that so students will be meeting American students who are participating in other programs not the academy but are on campus and their own age so it's a way to meet lots of Americans and sort of figure out what American society is like that's fantastic I know that we can ask the same question of Larissa so Larissa can we go to you because I believe you had a homestay experience and weren't in a dorm with a family could you tell us about that first I was a little bit reluctant about being at a host family house that was an experience different from what I used to but then when I first arrived there I was right there with my parents and I was just so happy because my host family helped me in so many ways and I really felt as part of their family it was really special for me that's fantastic so it wasn't what you expected a nice experience and I assume that you still are in contact with them yeah definitely for sure I still talk to my host mom and my host sisters it's really fun that's fantastic thank you Larissa so another question we had is what are the dining facilities like I assume it's different but in general of course if you're at a family or eating with the family at home but if you're in a dormitory Sally what would the Jackie please sure so when you live on campus you have access to the cafeterias that are on campus and typically the cafeterias will give you many choices one of the things that students often tell us is how funny it is that here in this country we like to have cold lunches things like that but that is a lot of what you will be exposed to but there's also opportunities outside of the cafeteria so for example I don't know if you do this Sally but we students get an ID card and on that ID card is money for them to eat not just in the cafeteria but anywhere around the campus so they can go to a restaurant around campus and be able to eat there and we have restaurants representing food from all over the world so if you're feeling homesick for food from your country chances are there's a restaurant that you might be able to go to so there's a lot of choices so you can have the truly American cafeteria experience or you can go elsewhere and experience other food and that's certainly the case for all academies campuses are very international places there's a lot of international food so we have a next our next question is related to this from a viewer I'm Muslim and only eat halal food will the academy accommodate my religious and dietary needs Jackie can you speak to that? Yes so our cafeterias will accommodate halal and in fact we have many restaurants that are halal restaurants around the campus so that is not a problem in our case and again going back to your point of most US campuses are very international I think that it's safe to say but again ask always ask and don't assume and also during the application process those kind of questions if there are any specific needs health restrictions or dietary restrictions those will come up in the application when we receive that so that also helps us plan and get a better sense of who the academy students are going to be so that we can make sure that their needs are also being met Excellent so again bottom line reach out ask these questions specific questions make sure that you you're doing your homework when you reach out to the academy that you're interested in and once you do apply give us as much information as possible more information is always better than too little information okay then that's very good advice that's very good advice so our next question from our online viewers are there programs that are specific to the arts to STEM fields and entrepreneurship so essentially I guess you know liberal arts or arts, STEM, sciences and business kind of programs Jackie do you want to speak to that? Sure yeah well to the arts I can say well at Temple we have a special track for the arts so you can focus on art and design music or film in addition to the regular academy pre-college program business I know there's quite a few programs you have business and entrepreneurship as a focus and STEM I think that you will notice that I think quite a few actually have a STEM focus I think to you do you have a STEM focus? We have a STEAM focus which includes then the arts the A in the STEAM Excellent yeah yeah I know there are lots of sort of unique programs each with a little bit of a different focus on STEM or STEAM and I think also programs are trying to incorporate that focus but then incorporating what is in their community into that so a lot of our activity programming we're taking advantage of what is in our backyard to do visits to tech firms or companies and to incorporate that into the curriculum but then also into the activities Okay excellent that's fantastic so you really link to the community as much as possible so our next question is will I receive university credit for my time in the academy? Sally do you want to say that? Sure and so again we'll direct you back to the website to look at the specific academies there are a few academies that do offer university credit and not all of them do but some of them do so I think the best resources to go to the individual sites and identify which ones do so again do your homework go to the website some do some don't and it's different so if that's something that's really important to you out of an academy experience it's something that you should make sure that you look at and then write to the school about and make sure that you verify yes I'm getting what I expect What I would say also though is not all the academies offer university credit but I think all of the academies participants leave their experience with some tangibles so they will often receive a certificate they will receive grades of some sort they may receive a letter of recommendation for participation in the program in some programs they are given a standardized test so that they have a hard score so while some programs academies may not offer university credit there are real tangible things that the participants will leave the program with so for example if I'm a participant in the academy and I and them applying to school somewhere it's something I would definitely want to cite and say I did this, this is a program and it's something that schools that admissions officers certainly look to and value and we've had an alumni say that they actively use their experience in the academy and applying to universities and they feel that it was a definite benefit for them and most academies if not all will have admissions workshops to help students learn about the application process to United States colleges and universities and will always remind students be sure to talk about this experience so that is built into the academy itself and I know for the art and design portion of what we are doing we're also including a portfolio building piece to that so if you're interested in going to art school in the United States what does it look like to apply and put together a portfolio you have to have that and they will walk away from the academy with a piece of art that they created there that they can use in their portfolio so I think most academies are building a lot of this in to what they're doing that's an excellent perspective for students about the value of the academy just personally but also very practically as they move forward in their academic lives so our next question is probably one that I will try and answer myself it's from a viewer who asks what kind of visa is required for the program and will EducationUSA help in that process and the answer is certainly in the sense that we the students will apply for either a B1B2 tourist visa or a J visa if they get specific kinds of funding for the program and EducationUSA does issue a letter that to students that says it's a program and that says that it is a Department of State run program that doesn't mean that you are guaranteed to receive a visa each visa adjudication is a separate decision and is up to the consular officer but we definitely will assist with certainly transmitting the information that you are on a program that is one of the Department of State if you are still friends with some of the people that you met on the Academy program so not just your host family but with the people, you know, with some of your other students. Yes, definitely. I met a lot of lovely people there of course. I talk mostly to my friend Carolina she was like my partner the whole program and the whole experience to get her and take a lot of pictures. Fantastic. Can you tell us a little bit about your plans now? Are you planning to study in the US or what lies ahead? Yes, definitely. I plan to study in some college or university in California I'm still figuring out which college or university but definitely in California. Okay. So one question, I know that as part of the program you visited other schools you were at your school and then you saw others was that a helpful thing? Did you like seeing the different kinds of schools that you can apply to? Totally. And like here in Brazil we have a different perception of what a college is but when you could visit and learn in the US what a college means I can now consider this as an option of where I want to study in the future it's really changing my idea of it. Thank you very much Larissa we appreciate that perspective it's great to hear. So we have time for a final question Our viewer asks have any academy alumni gotten into undergraduate university programs in the US and did the academy help them? And I know the answer is yes absolutely for sure and maybe the two of you can give us some perspective Jackie. Yes, definitely I know we have an academy alum who's going to be starting at Temple this September from Russia which is very exciting and we have others the first one that stands out to me is an alum from Curitiba where Larissa is from and she is studying at the University of New York City Forensic Science she is studying so they're coming back Sally, any stories? And likewise we're actively trying to keep in touch with our former academy participants to track where they're going and if they're staying in their home countries or if they're coming to the United States we've had some students at San Diego State University in Southern California and at other universities and as I mentioned earlier one of the students credits the academy on one of his reasons for not only getting into a university but getting a lot of funding and scholarships for his program so we're excited to continue to track the students and see what their future is holding for them So it sounds like this is a very important message for people listening that one of the things to take away is that many students, even though they go to a particular school at the academy a particular academy they don't necessarily enroll in that school they might, but they might also go to many others and that they're successful in enrolling and that the academy schools support each other as well so it's also a network and I know that I've heard many academy schools say well, you know, we look at it as a very good thing if you went to one of these academies and certainly other schools that are not part of the academy network do the same and so that's definitely something we have seen I'm sorry that we're out of time for questions we would now like to share a special message from an academy alumnus who is currently attending Dartmouth College here in the United States he talks about how the academy impacted him personally so we spoke to Gustavo Lama Shehad to get his thoughts on education USA in the academy his life as an international student now studying in the United States As of today right now I'm a student here at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire I'm a freshman I'm a part of the class of 2022 my life is I guess I can say fantastic right now I'm exactly where I wanted to be super happy excited about the following three years of my life here I've had an amazing year so far met incredible people took amazing classes I guess overall I have to say life is pretty good so far the academy came in a really good time I was in my gap here I was looking for activities looking for a different experience not only would improve my resume but also work on extracurriculars and it kind of gave me a sense of if college life in America was what I was looking for and when I got this scholarship from Education USA to attend a one-month program at the University of Boulder in Colorado it just felt like the perfect opportunity to experience a little bit of college life and kind of figure out is this what I really want from my life is this what I've been looking and working for so far is it worth it and if the academy did anything it showed me that it was more than worth it the academy was a fantastic experience I met the most incredible diverse people in the world I took some pretty amazing classes there they helped me prepare a lot especially with academic writing English preparation for the SATs a little bit of American culture which is really important and I think overall this is what the academy does really well is put you in an environment that simulates almost in the very similar way if not exactly the same what college life what college life is actually living in a dorm, sharing a room having to be responsible for yourself which means waking up for your own classes taking care of your dorm room taking care of your classes making sure you're eating well you're doing your laundry which is a really big challenge there a challenge here so the academy did a really fantastic job and it was just a surreal and amazing experience, an experience that really prepared me for this year that I've lived in the following years that I haven't had a step but actually if you're able to go it is, I cannot explain in words how much of an amazing experience and opportunity that is for you to go to a college and spend a month there and take classes and meet the biggest the ranges group of people you ever meet in your entire life we were in 20 students in that program I think in total we had 14 countries being represented by Jean, the Philippines Brazil, Austria Mexico there were so many countries that I cannot even remember right now, Russia I think it was super exciting and I guess if you're an international student and you're considering life in America, weather for college if you're considering improving your English and you're giving the opportunity to attend such a nice program as the Education USA Academy definitely say go for it it's an experience that I haven't regretted I consider it to this day to be one of the best experiences I've ever had and I include being here at Dartmouth one of them as well it was a fantastic month I came back a different person I learned so many different things from different people if it did anything for me just encouraged me and upward my strength and desire to come here studying it's a fantastic program I can definitely attend I cannot explain in words it's fantastic really really is that was a fantastic perspective to get unfortunately we're almost out of time but before we conclude our conversation we would like each of our guests to share a final thought on the Education USA Academy Larissa in Curichiba can we start with you can you give us some final thoughts well I'd just like to thank the academy because now I definitely feel ready and prepared for college and all the things we've learned the activities we did and the people I met they not only will help me with college skills but also life skills those are things that we will stay always with me and if you're planning to go to the academy you should do it because it will be totally worth it thank you Larissa that's a great perspective thank you Sally and Jackie can I turn to you for final thoughts Sally sure well congratulations to Gustava and to Larissa you guys are great spokespeople for the program I think for me looking at the students who are coming through and it's difficult for the students but maybe for the parents out there to see the students at the beginning of the program and then to see the growth the level of confidence and just how much is learned in a very short period of time it's inspirational and as they've said it before if you have an opportunity or if you're interested in it you know please take a look because it's a pretty amazing program what a nice vision thank you Sally Jackie yeah I think what I'd like to say is just more than any other program there's something about this program that builds community so with this program what we see happening when students leave they go back to their home countries they're keeping in touch with each other unlike any other program I've seen it's amazing the community that stays with them but then they're also keeping in touch with us and we're keeping in touch with them so as we travel around the world to recruit whatever we're doing to them and they're there they meet us their families want to meet us and take us to dinner they'll come to a recruitment fair and speak on behalf of our university our chaperones keep in touch with them and have even gone to visit them in their home countries and it's a community unlike any other I've ever seen it's fantastic thank you so much Jackie but this is not just an academic program it's a personal one personal enrichment professional enrichment down the line and academic as well thank you both for joining us today Sally and Jackie and Larissa and a special thank you to Dartmouth student Gustavo Lamers Shehad for providing his perspective as a former academy student in addition special thanks at Temple University and was an academy chaperone who created some of the graphics you saw in today's program we're grateful we would also like to thank our viewers joining us from around the world we had viewing groups gathered around the world including in the Centro Binacional CCBU in Linz, São Paulo, Brazil the American Space Ibeo Serra in Fortaleza, Brazil the American Corner Pristina and the American Advising Center in Kosovo you can find more information about studying in the United States by visiting the EducationUSA website at www.educationusa.state.gov there you can find information on the five steps to US study locate an EducationUSA center in your country one of 436 around the world connect with us via social media learn about both in-person and virtual upcoming events research financial aid opportunities and much more thank you and please join us for future EducationUSA interactive web chats goodbye from Washington