The Lugar Legacy: The YES Student Exchange Program
INDIANAPOLIS–When Alihan Gurleyen returns to Turkey from Indianapolis, he’ll ask his high school principal what it would take for the school to have a gym and to teach music classes. Before his arrival in the U.S. nine months ago, he had only learned math and science in school.
Gurleyen is an exchange student who is here thanks to the YES program, also known as the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Studies Program. YES was created by senators Ted Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Dick Lugar, a Republican from Indiana. Both men are now gone. The program is part of their legacies.
The program is meant to help people from the U.S. learn about people from nearly 40 counties, with significant Muslim populations. It was created shortly after 9/11. Indiana is hosting 47 YES students and four Hoosiers have taken a year of high school abroad since 2011.
“I was always like, wanting to go outside of my country,” said Gurleyen. “I applied for it. There were some tests and I passed all of it, and now I’m here.”
Gurleyen said one of the most significant differences between his home country and the U.S. is suburbs, namely having them and staying there. But, the difference that’s had the biggest impact on him is the curriculum.
“School are way better than my school in Turkey. In my school we don’t have a gym. We don’t have a swimming pool. We don’t have music classes. I didn’t do any sports back in my home country.”
Sports in school is also a new concept for Vanessa Brinkman, Gurleyen’s host mom. She’s hosted kids from several countries, but never one who participated in school sports.
Having the kids as guests for nine months is a motivation not just to the students, but for the host family.
“There’s always new things for us to see and do, whether it’s an interest of theirs or an interest of ours. This year’s been getting involved in sports, which is a different direction for me,” she said. “We’ve gone to see a lot of things across the country that sometimes are a first for us, sometimes we’ve seen before but it’s a new experience over and over again.”
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Brinkman said her family was host to exchange students before getting involved in the YES program.
“We started with South Korea, then Indiana, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Liberia and this year, Turkey. We learn about their culture. They’re literally my kids for the year. Some of them have come back to visit. We learn about their religions and do a lot of comparisons not only about how we’re different, but about how we’re alike.”
The time they spend together is also bonding time and makes the end of the school year tough. It’s also the end of the visit.
“Giving them back is the hardest. The end of may, June is the worst time. Your heart breaks every time you send a kid home. It’s like, there goes a part of me,” said Brinkman.
PHOTO: YES PRogram FB page/Bilal Z Khan
