A group of 72 African students and mentors will be at Ball State for two weeks in April for activities that include classroom-based lectures and interactive workshops. The students made the highest scores on a youth council exam in Sub-Saharan Africa. The group also will travel to Washington, D.C., to learn about American culture and government.
Seventy-two African high school students and mentors will come to Ball State this year as part of the Pan-Africa Youth Leadership Program. The first group of three will arrive April 3 and stay at Ball State for two weeks.
The students were the highest scorers of a youth council exam in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Meridian International Center and Ball State’s Center for International Development sponsor the program.
Huso Selimovic, project coordinator, said the purpose of the program is to strengthen high school students’ understandings of civic rights, responsibilities, respect for diversity and importance of community engagement.
“They are going to learn about another culture’s customs and traditions, and it will encourage families to explore their own state and country,” Selimovic said.
The students will live with volunteer host families during their time at Ball State, and Selimovic said the goal was to help participants experience the life of an American teenager.
He said they have five students who are still in need of a host for the spring program and are in need of more homestay families. Families interested in hosting a student can download an application on the Ball State website.
“To do this, families are most likely going to take participants out to movies, dinners, different events on campus or in our city or in our state,” Selimovic said. “This allows them to explore the community a little more.”
The students in the spring program are from Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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Ball State is the only university the students will visit. According to meridian.org, during their time on campus, they will get to see and participate in classroom-based lectures, interactive workshops, simulations focused on social entrepreneurship and community engagement. They also will go through leadership training.
According to meridian.org, the students will make action plans to improve their community and will present them at the closing conference in Chicago. After the program, the students will go back home and try to implement their plans in their hometowns.
The two later groups coming to Ball State in the summer and the fall speak French as their native language, so the program gives them a chance to learn or practice another language.
“It will also give an opportunity to [American] families who are interested in learning another language — they’ll be able to practice a little bit of a foreign language,” Selimovic said.
He said they will have events where host families can meet each other and other students in the program.
“Hopefully, it will just overall develop lasting relationships with international students,” Selimovic said. “If we’re successful, I’m sure that some of these students might even show interest in studying here at the university later down the road.”
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