“I have been dreaming to come here.”
Aishat Kanatova is living her dream now that she is a Churchill High School Charger. Kanatova is among 25 foreign exchange students attending North East ISD schools.
She’s from Kazakhstan. It takes about 24 hours to fly there. While 24 hours may seem like a long time, it’s nothing compared to Aishat’s volunteer time.
She’s logged more than 670 volunteer hours since arriving at Churchill and still has five more months here.
“My host family is really active in volunteering, and they help me with that a lot. I am having so much fun. It’s so interesting here. It’s cool.”
But she’s not only volunteering; she’s really making the most of her time at Churchill. She recently made the track team, and she’s a member of the World Languages Club. (She speaks three languages, by the way.) Another cool thing about Aishat is that she earned a highly competitive FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange) scholarship from the U.S. Department of State to make her dream of coming to America come true. It’s a worldwide search for recipients; only about 1 in 40 applicants get the scholarship.
“Host schools like yours help build diplomatic bridges with other nations by creating positive and life-changing experiences for their exchange students,” said Lori Wichael, Assistant Director of Grant Scholarship Programs for ASSE International. “These schools set themselves apart by demonstrating a commitment to academic and cultural enrichment for their student through international exchange.”
NEISD is hosting two FLEX Scholarship recipients this semester. Athina Mitoglou also received a FLEX Scholarship. She’s from Greece and is attending Johnson while she is here.
Check out the NEISD Foreign Exchange Program to learn more.
