Exchange program cancels Vermont trip for 40-plus students after federal funding freeze
Dozens of high school exchange students with plans of coming to Vermont will now have to wait a little longer to stamp their passports.This comes after months of receiving no federal funding for their exchange program at PH International in Waitsfield. The Trump administration stopped the flow of the funding needed to run the program.”Some of it has been unfrozen, some of it is still paused, some of it has been terminated,” said international exchange manager Drew Diemar.PH International was planning on finding host families for 44 exchange students this spring for their annual one-month trip to the Green Mountain State. These high schoolers from far away places like Myanmar, the Philippines and the Pacific Islands, would be learning leadership skills.”It’s unfortunate that it got pushed back because some of the students who were originally supposed to come won’t be able to make it,” said Diemar.So, PH International has made the hard decision to postpone their trip which would have included tours of the Vermont Law School and Ben & Jerry’s. There also would have been trips to upstate New York and Washington, D.C.”The amount of money that’s not being put into foreign assistance work will be devastating,” said executive director Meg Harris. “It will be catastrophic.”Even with the trip postponed, with the news of student detainments happening across the country making waves across the globe, some students are looking elsewhere to study abroad.”I don’t blame them,” said Waterbury Center resident Kitt Walker.Walker and her husband, Rob, hosted two exchange students from Myanmar last year, something she was prepared to do again this spring.”They were intelligent, they were interested, they wanted to cook for us and clean up. They said the elders don’t clean up back at home,” Walker joked.For students on the fence about coming to the States, Kitt says she speaks for all host families when she says:”They’ll be safe with us. We’ll make sure of that.”PH International hopes the program will run sometime in August and will pick up again as usual next spring.
Dozens of high school exchange students with plans of coming to Vermont will now have to wait a little longer to stamp their passports.
This comes after months of receiving no federal funding for their exchange program at PH International in Waitsfield. The Trump administration stopped the flow of the funding needed to run the program.
“Some of it has been unfrozen, some of it is still paused, some of it has been terminated,” said international exchange manager Drew Diemar.
PH International was planning on finding host families for 44 exchange students this spring for their annual one-month trip to the Green Mountain State. These high schoolers from far away places like Myanmar, the Philippines and the Pacific Islands, would be learning leadership skills.
“It’s unfortunate that it got pushed back because some of the students who were originally supposed to come won’t be able to make it,” said Diemar.
So, PH International has made the hard decision to postpone their trip which would have included tours of the Vermont Law School and Ben & Jerry’s. There also would have been trips to upstate New York and Washington, D.C.
“The amount of money that’s not being put into foreign assistance work will be devastating,” said executive director Meg Harris. “It will be catastrophic.”
Even with the trip postponed, with the news of student detainments happening across the country making waves across the globe, some students are looking elsewhere to study abroad.
“I don’t blame them,” said Waterbury Center resident Kitt Walker.
Walker and her husband, Rob, hosted two exchange students from Myanmar last year, something she was prepared to do again this spring.
“They were intelligent, they were interested, they wanted to cook for us and clean up. They said the elders don’t clean up back at home,” Walker joked.
For students on the fence about coming to the States, Kitt says she speaks for all host families when she says:
“They’ll be safe with us. We’ll make sure of that.”
PH International hopes the program will run sometime in August and will pick up again as usual next spring.
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