DECEMBER 2023 36 By Mallory Gleich and Kathy Murphy For more than 75 years, American Field Service (AFS) host families have welcomed international students into their homes and hearts, providing so much more than shelter. AFS began as the American Ambulance Field Service, a volunteer group in WWI and WWII. It transformed from a wartime humanitarian aid organization into an innovative plan to solidify friendships made during wartime and peacetime, an international school exchange and volunteer platform with a vision to help build a more peaceful world by promoting understanding among cultures. The first exchange occurred in 1947 when a group of high school students from France, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Norway, England, and Syria arrived in the United States on a scholarship program. Since then, over 424,000 students have gone abroad with AFS, and the Arizona chapter hosts several of these students annually. The exchange begins with an application and screening process. Students participating in AFS programs are sponsored on a J-1 student visa issued through the U.S. State Department. These visas are strictly limited and are only given to private, nonprofit organizations like AFS. The primary purpose of a J-1 visa is a “cultural exchange,” and the student may not be related to the host family under any circumstance. Students attend an accredited high school. Scottsdale Unified School District supports a maximum of three J-1 visas per high school each year. The F-1 visa is another option for a nonimmigrant student visa. It is issued through the Department of Homeland Security. The F-1 visa is granted to schools and districts that receive compensation for the hosted students. They must attend the specific schools sponsoring their visa but are permitted greater flexibility with the host families. “Most of us will share that it is the host family that makes the difference in the AFS experience. The beginning is often a bumpy road as everyone adjusts to another person sharing the family space and bridges the unexpected cultural differences,” volunteer Kathy Murphy said. A well-trained group of volunteers check in frequently, supporting host families and students as they navigate their schools and communities. In return, families experience an intercultural journey without packing a suitcase or leaving home. “It becomes an expanded family with loved ones across the globe – new brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, cousins and grandparents. Personal growth and broadened perspective in tolerance and understanding,” Murphy said. Arcadia High School Guidance Counselor Sonya Kim has experienced these feelings and more, thanks to her involvement in AFS. Her mother was one of the first students to travel abroad, sailing to Finland for the summer in 1956. Kim loved the program so much that she started an AFS Club as a student at Arcadia High. When she was a senior, her family hosted a student from Brazil, and the two became fast friends. “She was like a sister to me. We had such a good time together. After I graduated college, I sold my car and bought a plane ticket to Brazil and spent a year living with her and her family,” Kim said. “The only con was that sometimes it was a struggle to share with her because I’d never had a sister.” Kim took her AFS journey even further, spending time in Denmark and returning to the States to work as an intern in the AFS office in California. She then returned to Phoenix Building lifelong friendships, one student – and family – at a time Justin, Keegan, Shang-Chi (Marvel character), Josephine and Shannon McAfee with AFS student Pablo Nunez Gomez. Sonya Kim and her exchange family from Denmark, circa 1988. PHOTO COURTESY OF SONYA KIM PHOTO COURTESY OF SHANNON MCAFEE Catholic Liberal Arts Education Preschool through 8th Grade Visual Arts Music Physical Education Spanish Library Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Sacramental Preparation Weekly Mass and Adoration CYAA School Sports Student Council and NJHS Schoolwide Service Projects Afterschool Enrichment Classes Student Support Services Mentor Families Community Events 2 20 02 24 4- -2 20 02 25 5 A AP PP PL LI IC CA AT TI IO ON NS S O OP PE EN N S T C S . U S Scan here to start your application!

37 DECEMBER 2023 and Arcadia High, becoming the guidance counselor while staying involved in the program. “I’ve always taken the exchange students on my caseload because I can relate to what they are experiencing. One thing I try to do is put them in our Student Government class because it’s such a unique American experience,” Kim said. Students take part in planning school pep assemblies, dances like homecoming and prom, build floats and learn about the traditions we have in American high schools. Kim has had many exchange students tell her they feel like they are experiencing high school just like they see in the movies. “The friendships they create with each other and American students are fantastic. We have students traveling to other countries to visit our exchange students after they return home, and we have exchange students who return to Arcadia to visit,” Kim said. Shannon and Justin McAfee have been involved with AFS for seven years as hosts and volunteers. “I have enjoyed traveling internationally since backpacking through Europe in college. When Justin and I had children, we didn’t stop. We have taken our kids – now 18 and 17 – to over ten countries, and they were interested in being foreign exchange students,” Shannon said. The couple researched programs and decided to go with AFS based on its history and philosophies. Their first host student, Nuno from Portugal, came to America in 2016. They also hosted Rutbaa from Pakistan in 2021, and in 2023, they welcomed Pablo from Spain. Shannon said that the pros of hosting include gaining a new understanding of another culture and sharing American culture. “It is an extended family. We have visited our Portuguese family twice and have plans to travel to Pakistan this summer for Rutbaa’s high school graduation,” McAfee said. “I love those kids like they are my sons and daughters.” There isn’t a con to it, according to McAfee. “You have to assume you have added another child to your family, which means they witness the ups and the downs. All families have good traditions and arguments and disagreements. When you add this child to your life, they become a part of it,” she said. Pablo will stay with the McAfee family until the end of the school year. He’s currently attending Arcadia High and said his success at the high school is attributed to Mrs. Kim as a guidance counselor. Pablo joined the student government, has enjoyed football games and also became the basketball team manager – something he was very excited about. “The reason I love AFS so much is because it is made up of volunteers. It’s not an organization that makes money off of students, but truly wants to fulfill the original goal of the World War I ambulance drivers: to unite people worldwide by learning and living with people from other cultures,” Kim said. AFS is one of the largest volunteer organizations in the world, with more than 50,000 volunteers, including 2,600 in the U.S. Over 100,000 students who studied abroad with AFS currently live in the United States. afs.org ARCADIANEWSARCHIVES.COM In one of the brightest neighborhood traditions, the Christmas lights adorning the home of Lee and Patricia Sepanek were something not to be missed. After 35 years, the family has officially retired the Christmas House. Thanks for the memories! It is an extended family. I love those kids like they are my sons and daughters.