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Sen. Elizabeth Warren blocks confirmation of Biden education nominee, presses for fed student loan overhauls
Sen. Elizabeth Warren reportedly wants the Biden administration to agree to substantial overhauls of the $1.6 trillion federal student loan program before she joins other Democrats in approving President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead higher education policy, James Kvall. Warren, who’s led calls on the president to cancel up to $50,000 in borrowers’ federal student loan debt, is ramping up pressure for reforms including broader oversight of the companies who service loans, according to The Washington Post and Politico. On Monday, Warren — and her Massachusetts colleague Sen. Ed Markey and Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota — sent letters to the CEOs of all federal student loan servicers, pressing them…
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Exchange student agency looking for host families in Hampton Roads
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Exchange student programs are picking back up after a temporary shutdown due to COVID-19. In Virginia Beach, the Trussell family is preparing to welcome their third exchange student. They go through an agency called International Experience. Tracy Mabry, northeast regional director for International Experience, says the agency is still looking for host families in various parts of Hampton Roads while some are already full. Public schools have a certain number of students they allow each year. Mabry said that for Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, families can still sign up to host, but they do need to hurry as the deadline to have information to the schools…
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Metro Roundup: Former exchange student returns to Chelsea 50 years later
The Chelsea High School Class of 1971 held its 50th high school reunion recently, and a familiar face joined them from far away. Alba Lucia Pelaez came to Chelsea High School from Colombia as a foreign exchange student for 18 months thanks to a scholarship from the Civitan Club. When she first arrived, she spoke no English and spent time learning the language and culture, and in the fall of 1971 began taking her classes to graduate with a diploma. “It was a great experience,” Pelaez recalled. “When I went back to Colombia, I was proud to say that I graduated in the U.S. It was a very unique opportunity. This was my…
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DR. ROBERT WALLACE: Exchange Student Has an Opportunity | Lifestyles
DR. WALLACE: I’m a 17-year-old girl from Japan, and I’m going to be spending a year in America starting this fall to take some high school senior courses. My main purpose is to learn to speak better English and to know more about life in America. I thought for a long time that the COVID-19 pandemic would cause my chance to travel to be canceled, but lately, my sponsors feel I will be allowed to travel to the USA this fall. I’m going to live in the Los Angeles area with my American host family and their two teenagers. All of them seem very nice to me, and I like…
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Foreign exchange student program seeks host families
More than 20 countries, including Denmark, participate in CETUSA. (Courtesy CETUSA) The Council for Educational Travel USA is looking to place 10th- and 11th-grade students with families in the Cypress, Pearland, Sugar Land or Katy area by August. CETUSA is a nonprofit international student exchange organization that coordinates with students in 20 other countries including South Korea, Brazil, France, Germany and Argentina. “We’re looking for diversification in high schools, but we’re also looking for cultural exchange between the students that come into the U.S. and the host families,” CETUSA Local Coordinator Nicola Edmunds said. Families in the U.S. typically host students for an academic year, Edmunds said. She said CETUSA…
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Italian exchange student Mattia Casagrande brings volleyball savvy to Taunton boys’ team
“I love the experience of playing sports for your school,” he said, “because I think it creates a sentiment for your school . . . that kind of patriotic feeling that you have for your school [and] for your town.” Casagrande is a native of Cogliate, a small town outside of Milan, and picked up volleyball at age 10. Unlike many stateside players who play multiple sports within seasons, Casagrande focused on the sport year-round for nearby club team Pallavolo Saronno. He loves the fervor volleyball creates in Italy, and reminisces about the 2016 Olympic semifinals, when the Italian men’s national team knocked off the United States in five sets.…
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Swedish exchange student shares about experience at GHS | News
Gothenburg High School was lucky enough to count a foreign exchange student among their student body and Class of 2021, but if you ask Hugo Morau, he would say he was the lucky one. In the midst of a global pandemic, Hugo wasn’t certain the exchange program was an opportunity he would get this past year. Hugo is from Holleiken, Sweden – a country that his host parents here, Lisa and Brad Jorgenson – are very familiar with. Lisa was an exchange student to Sweden when she attended Gothenburg High School during the 1989-90 school year. Her daughter, Madeline, followed in those same footsteps and is currently in Sweden through…
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