International Students Join NWU

Three international exchange students from the American Field Service Intercultural Program Philippines (AFS-IPP) join the university for the academic year 2019-2020, namely: Ilenia Mazzoni of Tuscany, Italy, Anna Victoria Bylan of Maryland, USA, and Lou Carlier from Belgium-France.

    

The international students are in the Philippines for a 10-month cultural immersion agenda of the AFS-IPP program. While studying at Northwestern University, they are considered full-time scholars for two semesters.

Ilenia and Anna have joined the HUMSS Track in Senior High School. Anna is a scholar from the Youth Exchange Scholarship (YES) of the Kennedy-Lugar Program which requires her to study the Filipino language. Incidentally, Northwestern University is one of the five schools in the country entrusted with a YES scholarship of the United States. Lou is enrolled in AB Political Science under the College of Arts and Sciences.

The three students are being hosted by benevolent families, namely: Col. Roy and Ma’am Mary Rachel Nicolas for Ilenia; Mr. and Mrs. Medel and Imelda Dawang / Agustina A. Dancel-Matias / Dr. Mary Jane Noble for Anna on short periods; and Aizelle and RR Ramos for Lou.

The inclusion of Northwestern University in the list of participating universities of the AFS-IPP program underscores the relevancy of the institution in global citizenship education.

The AFS-IPP is an international organization that pushes for global citizenship education through international exchange programs. Its programs were first introduced in the Ilocos province during the 1970s with a few participants from Ilocos Norte National High School (INNHSO), and was revived two years ago.

Northwestern University formally inked an agreement with the AFS in 2017. Last academic year, from July 2018 to May 2019, NWU admitted two students from Italy, namely: Valentin Capraro and Nataniele Casini.