Study abroad programs at high school levels provide students with an unforgettable opportunity to step outside their comfort zones and develop life-changing academic and cultural skills that may include language fluency, increased cultural understanding and tolerance, adaptability improvements and self-confidence enhancement. Students who complete such an experience stand out in college applications and beyond.
Studies abroad can be organized through high schools, which can make the application, visa acquisition and transfer credit process much smoother. But if their high school does not offer programs they want or doesn’t match what you need – don’t despair as there are plenty of other choices out there!
Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) offers summer and semester programs for high school students around the world at various destinations. Their highly rated programs feature options that focus on language acquisition; others take a more holistic approach by including community service projects into the curriculum.
There are also programs that enable students to study a foreign language while living with a host family, which may be ideal for those looking to acquire Arabic, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean Mandarin Russian as among many other foreign tongues.
Some programs, like the full scholarship program that offers participants an academic year learning German with a host family in Germany, are specifically targeted towards those interested in cultural exchange and immersion; others, like spending an academic year learning Moroccan Arabic from local families in Morocco are open to all high school students.