AFS Miss Tennky Newsletter for October 1999

Twenty bright and bubbly young people from across the world arrived to spend the next ten months in middle Tennessee and Knoxville. Early in August Miss Tennky AFS leadership team welcomed them at the airport and escorted them to the Grace Community Retreat in the Whites Creek community north of Nashville where they experienced their first orientation to life in the USA. They were later united with their host families and have entered area high schools.

Students arrived from the following countries: Thailand, Germany, France, Italy, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, China, Switzerland, Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica and Norway. They attend a number of area schools including Hunters Lane, Marshall City, Antioch, Karns, Beech, BGA, Mt. Juliet, Hillsboro, Hendersonville and Centennial.

These students want to be involved in activities in the community. To invite a student to an activity that your club, church and/or family is participating call Kathleen Norris @ 615-836-9386 or Becky Heywood @ 615-383-5458.

If you would like more information on American Field Service Intercultural Programs and how to host or send you may call the above numbers and/or 1-800-876-2377 or you can visit www.afs.org/usa

We would like to thank all everyone that made the weekend run so smoothly. We couldn't have done it without your help and support!

We would also like to send out our thanks to the businesses that contributed to the success of our AFS Mammoth Cave weekend. They include Kroger's, Albertson's and Mrs Winters.

Thanks also to Walt Rathbun and the Nazarene Church of Goodlettsville for providing meeting space for the parent's portion of orientation

AFS truly appreciates the help we receive from our community, families, friends, liaisons, host families, returnees, and volunteers

By the time this newsletter comes out the Halloween Party will have taken place. however in advance or retrospect depending on how you think about it there are a few people and organizations we need to thank. 1st: the West Wilson branch of AFS for sponsoring what's sure to have been a great Halloween Party, 2nd: the Old Hickory Church of Christ for offering the site for our Halloween Party, 3rd: the Latin Club from Mt. Juliet High School for the decorations for the Halloween Party, and last but not least all the volunteers who helped make this a fun event for all the AFS students, their host families, the liaisons, and invited guests.

I know its early to start thinking about this but all those former host families out there who think they might be interested in hosting an exchange student next year please let us know so we can have a tentative idea of how many students to plan for in the coming year.

We have a great group of students this year and next year's will be sure to be as wonderful.

Call, write, or e-mail Sharon Bonnett at the number or address below. Thanks!

• Mid-Year Orientation
• February 5, 2000
• Students 9:30 - 5:00
• Families 9:30 - 1:00
• Site to be announced.
  
  
• Pre-Departure Orientation
• June 3, 2000
• Hosted Students 9:30 - 4:00
• Americans Abroad Students 9:30 - 4:00
• Families 9:30 - 1:00
• Site to be announced

• The AFS Christmas Party
• December 5, 1999
• Time: 3 - 7 PM
• at the Pleasant View Center in Pleasant View, TN
• Invitations and directions will be coming in the mail. Mark your calendars!
  
  
• SHORT TERM EXCHANGES: Short-term exchanges are coming. Mt. Juliet HS will sponsor a mini exchange some time after the New Year, as will Hunters Lane HS. There will also be an opportunity for students to travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin with the Hunters Lane HS AFS Club in April. More information will be sent out so look for it in the mail! Dates are still being worked out so as to not conflict with one another.

Occasionally other groups in our AFS family host something we call exchange weekends. They vary from event to event, but the purposes include:

• Highlighting AFS and its program possibilities in a particular high school by hosting a number of exchange students for one school day, plus social and/or educational events following;
• Giving AFS or international clubs or language study groups an opportunity to interact with students from many countries;
• Providing exchange students with the opportunity to experience a different community and high school, and a chance to make new friends.

These events are not mandatory. Because they require excused absences from school (which host families need to request in writing), students must have adequate grades and cannot have missed too much school in order to be in good standing. If you are invited to one of these events, discuss it with your host family and together make a decision.

Then it is VERY IMPORTANT to let people know as soon as possible WHETHER OR NOT you are coming, because much preparation is involved. Even if you are unable to attend, it is considered very impolite not to respond to such an invitation. "No, I am unable to come" or "Yes, I would like to come" are both acceptable; but not to respond is inconsiderate.

High school aged host brothers and sisters are invited if the hosting group has space, but sometimes this isn't possible. The local AFS chapter volunteers can help coordinate transportation if they know in advance who is planning to attend, so please notify your local volunteers of plans as soon as you know them.

A great amount of new hosting and sending materials has been dispersed in the last several weeks. School counselors in Williamson, Sumner, Robertson, Cheatham and Davidson Counties received materials at their fall inservice. High schools out of these areas and private schools in the area were mailed the most current materials. In the case of Montgomery County high schools, it was sent by school mail.

Within these packets, I included a letter asking educators to help spread the AFS word with local names and numbers. I also volunteered our team for giving presentations to classes and/or other groups at the high schools.

We are in need of a liaison that will personally call on the schools and actively schedule presentations. The person needs to act similarly to college representatives. They can come into the high schools and set up in the cafeteria during the lunch hours as well as give formal presentations.

The fall orientation at Whites Creek was well publicized in many local newspapers with articles and pictures. (Please send me copies from your local newspapers for our AFS scrapbook)

The Hunters Lane High School AFS Club will again sell entertainment books and Poinsettias as their fundraiser this year!

Entertainment Books will be available shortly. Call 615-860-1416 to reserve. They may be distributed at any AFS event. The cost is $20.00. Checks are to be made payable to Hunters Lane High School. If you wish them mailed, there is an additional $2.00 charge. HLHS/AFS mailing address is 1150 Hunters Lane, Nashville, TN 37115

Poinsettias will be available after Thanksgiving. Make arrangements for any of your organizations and your personal decoration needs to purchase large pots or one-bloom miniatures from the AFS Club. The costs are $5.00 and $10.00. Call 615-860-1416 just before Thanksgiving. Mark your calendars!

Thank you for supporting us. I know that most of you purchase these items each year. This year please remember us first!

See England and France (14 days). Leaving June 12th. Experienced tour guides and French Speaking educators. All Inclusive: $2650.00 for students and $310 additional for adults. Call Barbara or Stanley Wills @ 615-859-5412 or e-mail Barbara Wills at byw1010@aol.com.

We would love to here about all the things that are happening with the students and their families (making the team, joining a club, fun vacations, how's school going, what you like or don't like about school, new friends and experiences that you are having)

AFS is an international, voluntary, non-governmental, non-profit organization that provides intercultural learning opportunities to help people develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to create a more just and peaceful world.

I don't know about you but I find my conversations About AFS changing. Changing to reflect our achievements. Achievements like our first ever Welcome/Arrival orientation, sending 14 area students abroad and hosting 19 students for the second consecutive year. Fall orientation also qualifies as we had 56 participants, our largest ever!

This orientation included 33 teenagers and 17 volunteers, WOW!! None of these things would be possible without volunteers. Volunteers are our most valuable resource.

Summer 2000: Summer is a busy time for AFS. The Miss Tennky area team is responsible for hosting one bus stop. We are looking for a community willing to host the end of stay bus trip. A community hosts 20 -30 AFS students and their chaperons. A bus stop community provides host families, some sightseeing or entertainment and time for orientation. It is an opportunity to show off your community and be the last stop in the student's AFS year abroad. At the end the bus heads for New York and students depart for their home countries.

If you are interested in hosting the bus stop for Miss Tennky please call Becky Heywood @ 615-383-5458 or e-mail bheywood@nashville.net or call our regional office @ 800-876-2377.

New Area Team Leader: We have a new area team support coordinator, Elmer Woods. Elmer is a returnee from the summer program in Finland. He is famous for rendition of Rocky Top at fall orientation. Elmer has also served a liaison. Welcome Elmer!!

Thank You: Area volunteers thank Kathleen Norris for her service as support coordinator. Kathleen continues to demonstrate dedication to the AFS mission through her service. Thank You Kathleen!!

FYI: Nominations for team leadership will occur at the May team meeting. Voting on these posts will occur at the June meeting. The May and June meetings are open to everyone for this purpose. Look for more details in the spring newsletter.

If you haven't seen Luke Naylor in the past year, there is a perfectly good explanation. He has been in Nassjo, Sweden (about three hours south of Stockholm) as an exchange student for American Field Services.

While in Sweden, Luke said he had to adjust to the new culture, since culture there was different from culture in America. He said he had to make some changes.

"We sat down to dinner as a family every night. I loved it. The closeness of the community, my friends, and my host mother's cooking," Luke said.

School was also very different. It was a lot like college in America. On some days, Luke said he only had two classes. Teachers were addressed by their first names, and students had a better attitude about school. Luke noticed that nobody drove to school. They mostly rode bikes or walked. The major difference Luke said he noticed, however, was in the cafeteria.

"We ate on real plates with real forks and knives and had real glasses. It was all you can eat with free refills." He said.

Luke made friends while he was in Sweden and he said he still keeps in touch with them through e-mail.

"I try to write every couple of weeks," he said.

The real purpose of his trip was to learn, and he said he learned to see things from a different point of view, also to be more patient, and to be more understanding of people.

NOTE: If you wish to receive this newsletter by mail, or if you prefer not to receive this newsletter by email, please contact Becky Heywood.