Have you ever wanted to travel abroad? Not just for a vacation, but as a way to further your love for a certain language, help communities that are in need, or even gain an edge studying fields such as entrepreneurship and journalism? If so, then you must look into the scholarships offered by the Council on International Educational Exchange or the CIEE.

Founded in 1947, CIEE is a non-profit organization that promotes international education and exchange. Today it serves more than 340 U.S. colleges and universities, 1,000 U.S. high schools and 35,000-plus international exchange students.

CIEE offers more than 1,000 scholarships, with the intent to offer new opportunities and seize the summer. These scholarships can be used to participate in one of three CIEE run programs. First, the Language and Culture program is a four week stay in a foreign country that helps you enrich your knowledge of languages such as Spanish, French, Mandarin, Arabic and many more. Through this program, you could travel to places such as Chile, Peru, Spain, France or even Shanghai all while earning up to four college credits. Diana Lam (‘17) took advantage of this program this past summer. She visited and studied in Japan thanks to the Language and Culture Program.

The three-week Service and Leadership program will award you with a certificate of 45 hours of international community service. This program focuses on putting individuals right in the middle of global issues such as migrations of people, the environment or even children’s rights. If admitted into this program, you will work with a community on a project, while developing connections and skills you will utilize for the rest of your life.

The third program, Global Discovery, is a three-week program which allows you to pursue or develop a personal interest in fields such as marine biology, conservation and sustainability, global entrepreneurship, and many more fields that you may be interested in. Celine Fitzpatrick (‘17) was lucky enough to be part of this program during the summer of 2015. She traveled to Dublin, Ireland and focused on her interest in entrepreneurship. When asked about her overall experience Celine noted, “…what I liked most the assurance. I really felt like I’d be able to be successful and independent in college,” showing that CIEE can help people break out of their comfort zone and explore a world they have never imagined existed. Completing this program will put a Certificate of Academic Achievement in your resume, which would look fantastic on a college application, don’t you think? 

This year, CIEE has granted Whitney Young an additional $5,000, bringing the total to $25,000 of dedicated scholarship money. This means that at least two or three of you can be part of the summer programs offered by the CIEE. Our school’s connection to CIEE, French teacher Ivy Fetalino, has expressed gratitude for this generous donation and she encourages all of you to apply. “…I would not want students to miss this opportunity simply because they have not heard of it,” says Mrs. Fetalino.

While many high-schoolers graduate without knowledge of organizations like CIEE, don’t you let an opportunity like this slip between your fingers. If you are worried about things such as traveling alone or if you are worried about the application process itself, don’t be. There are other students, much like yourself, who have applied for and received these generous scholarships; as for the application process, take Diana’s word into consideration; “[The application] wasn’t rigorous at all… if you put the work in,” so get out there and put in the work.

There will be a meeting with a CIEE presenter on Monday, October 24 at 5:30pm. This meeting is open to both parents and students and will be about 30 minutes long. For more information, talk to Ivy Fetalino, room 315, or contact her at [email protected]. Or visit ciee.org/highschoolsummer.