While many AFS volunteers and staff should be connecting with schools, this article is designed to clarify roles and help you determine who to contact with questions as you build your own, local school relationships.
Who should be connecting with schools?
- AFS School Representatives
- Liaisons and Hosting Volunteers
- Host Families
- Hosted Student
- AFS Alumni and Returnees
- School Outreach and School Partnerships Staff
Lots of AFS people may have reason to connect with schools! Let’s look at some specific volunteer roles.
School Outreach Structure and Philosophy
This handy visual describes the relationship between volunteer School Outreach Coordinators, AFS School Representatives, and School Champions.
You can find out if your team has a School Outreach Coordinator by going to the Teams section of MyAFS (see Viewing Members of your Team if you need help finding them). To see if specific schools in your team have an AFS School Representative or a School Champion, check out School Information in MyAFS.
And even if you don’t want the formal title of being an AFS School Representative or a School Outreach Coordinator, we invite you to take the School Outreach Training or join a live webinar to learn how to improve your interactions with schools.
AFS Staff Roles
Knowing how critical schools are to the success of the AFS mission, we have two staff roles dedicated to the advancement of our overall school strategy: School Outreach/Relations and School Partnerships. In short, School Partnerships works with local volunteers and their local schools particularly around hosted student placements. School Outreach is focused on the bigger strategy of cultivating relationships with organizations and educators that bolster recognition of and connection to AFS and its programs as we strive to be a leader in building global competency skills.
School Partnerships Staff
Each AFS Volunteer team is connected to a School Partnerships staff member who collaborates with volunteers, school staff, and Regional Field Specialists to secure school placements for hosted students. School Partnerships staff track and record all available data on school policies, deadlines, and school personnel involved in approving exchange student enrollment. They also manage school fee payments and reimbursements and support volunteer School Representatives in teams without a School Outreach Coordinator. Each School Partnerships Coordinator works with multiple AFS teams. If you have questions about working with schools to place exchange students, what resources AFS offers to schools like yours, or how to record or find school information in our system, please connect with your team’s designated School Partnerships person (found in the MyAFS Team Directory).
Educational Outreach/School Relations Staff
The Director of Educational Outreach, listed in the MyAFS Team directory as your School Relations contact, is responsible for national and regional educator resource development, national school-facing promotions and initiatives, conference presentations, and trainings for educators. This role also sets the direction for school outreach initiatives and supports the School Outreach Coordinators and the national School Outreach Advisory Group (SCOUT). If you would like more information about how to be a successful School Outreach Coordinator, if you have testimonials and positive news about a school relationship, or if you are aware of a great school outreach opportunity (like a conference or a special school project), please reach out to educators@afsusa.org.