Salem resident Lisa Hoyt is now a part of the PAX (Program for Academic Exchange), which is about to place their first two exchange students in the Roanoke Valley. The program currently has room for about 15 more students, though with school openings right around the corner, this year is likely to be less than that. Public high schools usually will agree to enroll two students for an academic year. Salem and Northside High Schools have stepped up to be the first in the Valley to accommodate students who hail from Pakistan and Spain.
While PAX may be new to the area, the program which was founded in 1990, is a not-for-profit educational organization and one of a select few U.S. Department of State-designated Exchange Visitor Programs chosen to participate in the prestigious U.S. government sponsored Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) and Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programs. Each year, more than 1,100 teenagers visit the U.S. as PAX exchange students from one of 70 European, South American, Asian or African countries.
PAX local coordinators include Hoyt, and Claudia Everett who formerly was an exchange student herself from Peru, as well as a German native who will be serving the Blacksburg/Christiansburg area. Having gotten into the world of youth exchange through personal exchange experiences, Hoyt and Everett are excited to invite local families to share their America with a high school exchange student during the upcoming school year.
Founded in 1990, PAX stands for Program of Academic Exchange. For information on how one can host an exchange student from another country, please visit www.pax.org/families or call 800.555.6211. For local information: contact Lisa Hoyt (Salem) at 540-387-9138 or lisah.PAX@gmail.com or Claudia Everett (Vinton) 540- 761-2705.
-Submitted by Lisa Hoyt