CM Exchange Student Celebrates Global Youth Service Day

This weekend marks Global Youth Service Day—an event one exchange student studying at will be celebrating with a volunteer project.

Lolla Moraes, a junior from Brazil, will be teaching Portuguese to non-credit students at the University of Pittsburgh, said Pam Hoffman, an outreach coordinator with the Council on International Educational Exchange.

Global Youth Service Day is an annual campaign that celebrates and mobilizes the millions of youngsters who improve their communities each day of the year through service and service learning.

The event is the largest and longest-running service event in the world—and the only day of service dedicated to children and youth.

GYSD is celebrated each year in more than 100 countries when millions of children and youth around the world work together with schools, youth organizations, nonprofits, community and faith-based organizations, volunteer and national service programs, and other individuals to address critical issues and change their communities on Global Youth Service Day.

Hoffman said the concept of service is something that is stressed during educational exchange programs—and is one that the Global Youth Service Day helps reinforce.

“Most of the students are really shocked,” Hoffman said of exchange students studying in America. “Community service is not something that is fostered in the school or in the home.”

Want to know how you can get involved?

1. Identify a local, national, or global need you would like to address and organize a volunteer project with your high school American and exchange students.

2. Become a host family for an exchange student—change starts with you! Give an exchange student the opportunity to learn about America through your eyes.

3. Learn more about the YES (Youth Exchange and Study) program for American students and encourage your student to experience education exchange abroad.

For more information please contact Hoffman at 412-952-1306 or visit www.ciee.org