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Highlands AFS International Day Promotes Global Education

04/10/2025

by Señora Laura Proaño

Highlands recently welcomed eight AFS exchange students from seven countries - Cameroon, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Poland and Portugal – for a day dedicated to promoting global education. These students, currently studying in Western Pennsylvania school districts, including Highlands, participated in a series of engaging events for AFS International Day.

The day began at Highlands Middle School with a panel discussion featuring the AFS exchange students and Highlands host sibling, Beckham Ochoa. Seventh and eighth grade students asked questions they had prepared in their Social Studies classes about the exchange students’ countries, cultures and experiences in the United States. For example, Davina Mobley asked the students to share about the most beautiful or interesting place to visit in their countries, while Ella Brauch inquired about the type of government in their home countries.

After the panel discussions, Mr. Michael Foster’s eighth grade World Cultures class sent thank you e-mails with reflections on their learning. Tyrone Woody noted some interesting differences in the exchange students’ home countries, including that sports are not necessarily integrated into school life, some Japanese students clean their own school, motorbikes are more common in many countries and food portions are a lot bigger in the U.S. Jaxson Dinning shared his excitement for AFS, “I really think that the AFS Program is a great organization and I would love to hopefully be a part of it, and go to different countries.” Jayla Fedoris added, “Their experience has encouraged me to someday be an exchange student, possibly, to try something new.”

The AFS panel discussions continued at Highlands High School with World Language, World Cultures and International Business students. They explored cultural similarities and differences, memorable experiences and the benefits of studying abroad and hosting with AFS. The day concluded with a delicious International Club food buffet featuring cuisine from around the world prepared by students and their families. Dishes included Slovakian haluski, Italian pizelles, Indian chicken tikka masala, Vietnamese stir-fried noodles, Finnish cinnamon rolls, Irish millionaire shortbread, Portuguese pastéis de nata, Greek spanakopita, buffalo chicken dip from the United States and more. More than 70 International Club members enjoyed sampling a wide variety of global cuisine and talking with the exchange students. 

Special thanks to Dr. Michael Toole, Ms. Rebecca Bragan and the teachers at the Middle School and High School for supporting the Highlands AFS International Day and to the AFS exchange students and their families for their participation. 

AFS is a non-profit that has been empowering people for more than 75 years “to become globally engaged citizens by delivering meaningful intercultural experiences that provide the knowledge and skills need to help create a more just and peaceful world.” To learn more about hosting an exchange student or studying abroad with AFS, contact Laura Fleischer Proano at lproano@goldenrams.com or Rachel Ochoa at rachel.ochoa@gmail.com.

AFS Exchange Student Panel

  • Al-bright Mbando Dongmo, Highlands AFS Student from Cameroon
  • Essi Leppanen, Highlands AFS Student from Finland
  • Zalan Nagale, Plum AFS Student from Hungary
  • Giovanni Negrini, Greensburg Salem AFS Student from Italy
  • Alessio Ferraresi, Hempfield AFS Student from Italy
  • Coco Matsuzaka, Jeannette AFS Student from Japan
  • Zuzia Bugalska, Greater Latrobe AFS Student from Poland
  • Mónica Tavares, Derry AFS Student from Portugal
  • Beckham Ochoa, Highlands Host Sibling to Essi Leppanen from Finland