The Light - An Alumni Publication Summer 2015 | Page 5

NEW & NOTEWORTHY
HEIKO THOMS SPEAKS TO YFU STUDENTS
In St. Louis, the German Ambassador to the United
Nations, Heiko Thoms, spoke at a local high school
and presented three CBYX scholarship winners with
certificates. YFU placed 12 German students in St. Louis
this year. The students did a wonderful job running the
event from delivering the opening and closing remarks
to introducing the different speakers. Ambassador
Thoms answered several questions from the audience
after his speech, and many students got their picture
taken with him. The German exchange students also
had lunch with Ambassador Thoms and organized a
reception for him with CBYX alumni before the speech.

STUDYING ABROAD: OBSTACLE OR
OPPORTUNITY? TEXAS TEENS REPORT
Watch Austin area alumna Bita Ghassemi’s report on
the importance of studying abroad, which she produced
for the PBS NewsHour Student Report Lab. Ghassemi
went on exchange with YFU to Germany in 2012 as a
Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholar and profiles
the German-American Partnership Program in her report.

MICHELLE THORNHILL’S UNTOLD STORY

YFU International Students from Germany pictured
with Ambassador Thoms (third from left) with Field
Director Stephen Rutherford (second from right)

Alumna Michelle Thornhill, Finland 1988,
discusses the power of intercultural exchange
and how her experience has guided her personal
growth and success. Thornhill is the Vice President
of Diversity and Inclusion at Wells Fargo.

YFU IN PRINT
YFU CBYX winners with Ambassador Thoms

Read alumna Rani Richardson’s book Living in
South Africa – An American Student’s Journey.
Richardson exchanged to South Africa in 2012 with YFU.

YFU

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