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International Students Get a Taste of Americana in Georgetown

The Middle Eastern Partnership Initiative, Undergraduate Student Leaders Program brings students from the Middle East and North Africa to America to build leadership skills an expose them to U.S. culture.

Staying in the Georgetown University (GU) dorms, watching fireworks on Independence Day and enjoying a mock Thanksgiving are just some of the new experiences that students in the State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative’s Undergraduate Student Leaders Program are going to have this summer.

This program has brought students from the Middle East and North Africa to the U.S. for five to six weeks every summer since 2004, 18 to 20 of whom are living at GU.

The Undergraduate Student Leaders Program hosts 70 to 90 students, according to the MEPI website. During this time students will take classes, participate in community service, experience American culture and build leadership and cooperation skills, said academic director for the program at GU, Eric Langenbacher.

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Langenbacher recently reached out to Stoddert Elementary School in Glover Park in the hope of finding volunteer families to host "Thanksgiving in July" for the visiting students. His sons attend Stoddert, a school community

“This is the quintessential American holiday, yet one where each family has unique and diverse traditions. Few other holidays (besides the 4th of July, which the students will also be able to experience), offer such insight into American culture,” Langenbacher said.

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The goals of the program are to expose students from other nations to American culture, to create understanding between cultures and to help develop leadership skills within the participants, explained Langenbacher.

“The energy, enthusiasm and intelligence of the students always impresses me and I can't help but think that these countries will be in great hands when this generation makes it into positions of influence. Moreover, the investment that the U.S. government is making in this kind of public diplomacy and educational exchange is absolutely priceless,” Langenbacher said.

“Our students leave the U.S. with an incredibly deep knowledge of American society, culture and politics--perspectives that they would never be exposed to in the absence of such programs. But beyond that, we take great pains to provide a multi-dimensional leadership training so that each participant can increase her/his potential.”

One way that the program instills the students with knowledge of American culture that is new this summer is the hosting of a mock Thanksgiving.

For this year's "Thanksgiving," students will be hosted by local families, who will be prepare a meal for them and teach them their family traditions each November.

So far four or five families have already volunteered to host a Thanksgiving at their home, but Langebacher said that he is still looking for another family or two.

To volunteer, contact Eric Langenbacher: langenbe@georgetown.edu.

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