The Valdosta Middle School Academic Service Learning (VMS ASL) program is officially seeking applicants for the next exchange with Colne Community School in Brightlingsea, Essex, a school in the United Kingdom.
VMS ASL students will spend November 2022 through May 2023 raising money to travel to the United Kingdom and stay for 10 days in June of 2023. In February of 2024, the British students will travel to the United States, staying with their partner/host families here in Valdosta for 10 days. The total cost of the exchange program is $3,500. Each accepted student will need to raise $1,750 by May 15, 2023. Fundraising opportunities will be provided as students will be expected to pay $250 a month from November 2022 through May 2023. The remaining $1,750 will be due by January 15, 2024.
VMS and Colne Community School students each fill out extensive applications about their likes, dislikes, interests, hobbies, extra curricular activities and their families. Those forms are then used to pair partners with those who best match based on the information provided. While in the United States, the students attend school with their partners, visit local places of historic and educational value, enjoy recreational activities important in their home communities and learn about the differences in the daily lives of families in two different countries.
Past exchanges have included visits to Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Orlando, Florida as well as Savannah, Tybee Island, and Atlanta, Georgia within the United States. In England, students spend time in London, Colchester, and Brightlingsea visiting historic locations such as Buckingham Palace, Colchester Castle, Thames River, the London Eye, and Thorpe Park. During the weekends of each leg of the trip, host families take their exchange student to other points of interest that are within reasonable traveling distances for day trips.
All interested students should fill out an online application. Additionally, each applicant must have at least one recommendation from either a community member or teacher. Students can download the recommendation form and return it to Mrs. Newbern at VMS. All applications and recommendation forms are due by October 7, 2022.
For more information or if you have further questions, please contact Ms. Carole Newbern at VMS by emailing cnewbern@gocats.org or Mrs. Jennifer Steedley at jsteedley@gocats.org.
Click here to watch VMS ASL 2019 exchange video - https://bit.ly/3xNz25A