Education, Careers & Professional News
US Scholarship Awarded To 35 Indian Students
Thirty-five school students from across India have nabbed the golden opportunity to fly to the US this week to study there for a year on a scholarship.
The US mission here, on Monday announced its funding of the high school students for a year in American schools, beginning this week, as part of a programme to boost people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.
Robert O` Blake, charged affairs in the US embassy here, Monday lauded the students from Delhi, Pune and Ahmedabad selected to travel to the US for the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) programme.
While this is the third year of the YES programme, which aims to fund 675 students during the 2005-06 academic year, it is the first time Indian students have been selected for it.
In that sense, you are the pioneers. Let me hope that I get to hear from you after you come back, Blake told the excited students.
People-to-people contact is what makes the difference and provides the perfect platform for the relationship between two countries, Blake told.
They are all so excited and happy and will surely become goodwill ambassadors for this country (India).
During their stay in the US, the students - most of them in their teens - will attend American high schools, reside with host families, participate in social and cultural activities, develop leadership skills and inform Americans about life in India.
I always wanted to go abroad for my higher studies. I thought I would get the chance only after college. This came as a total surprise, said a gleaming Aditya Narayanan, 16, a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya at Andrews Gunj here.
Abhishek Anerao, 15, a student of Saraswati Secondary School at Thane in Maharashtra, too had similar sentiments. I am so excited. I am looking forward to learning about new cultures. To stay in the US is going to be a huge learning experience.
Funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the US Department of State, the YES scholarship covers all costs associated with the programme including recruitment, pre-departure activities, international travel and placement of students in home-stays.
American Field Service International, a US-based NGO is administering the YES programme in partnership with the US embassy.