Student Interviews
It is very important that volunteers conduct (or appoint someone to conduct) the student interviews in a timely manner. This can be done over Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, etc.
Guidance
In years past, most of the students, parents, and guardians were accustomed to having significant camaraderie with a dedicated Study Abroad Specialist. Given our reduction in staff resources we are a smaller but still dedicated group that continues to aim to provide the best possible experience for our applicants and their parent(s)/guardian(s). However, we don’t have the same resources to dedicate towards applicants that we had in prior years.
Volunteers can help the Study Abroad team by stepping in and becoming a guiding and reassuring voice so that they remain committed to having an AFS experience. Volunteers are not expected to have all of the nitty-gritty information on all of the countries, programs, and processes, but their voice of assurance and direct communication with the Study Abroad team will help retrieve the answers/info and provide it to families through direct engagement. This is an important component of the process and enhances the applicant experience tremendously.