10/24/2007 - Celebrating Its 60th Anniversary, AFS Starts Planning for the Next 60 Years: AFS World Congress Convenes in New York City

NEW YORK—It was 60 years ago that the first AFS high school students participated in international exchange. At the 2007 AFS World Congress taking place October 28 – November 1, 2007, delegates from around the world will review the progress made over the last year in the AFS network and plan ahead to maximize growth and development in the years to come.

The 2006 Galatti Award Winners for Outstanding Volunteer Service will be honored and presented with the Galatti Award Statue. The winners: Yasuko Araki of Japan, Nina Crawford of New Zealand, Maria Forini of Brazil, and Franz Greimel of Austria were nominated by fellow AFS volunteers and chosen for their lifetime dedication to the work of AFS.

AFS will also be awarding the winner of the 2007 “My Different View” essay contest to Vilde Michelsen Værøyvik, a 2005-2006 AFS participant on the year-long program from Norway to Mexico. Vilde’s essay, which describes the way her view of Norway changed during her year abroad, exemplifies the spirit of intercultural learning expressed in the mission of AFS.

To honor its 60th Anniversary, the World Congress will be preceded by a three-day celebration. Furthering its mission to building a more just and peaceful world, AFS is sponsoring a World Peace Congress on Saturday October 27th. The forum will feature presentations and panel discussions with a number of high-profile diplomats, educators, film-makers and world leaders and is the keynote event of the organization’s 60th anniversary celebration.

Among the notable speakers are Ken Burns, co-director and producer of “The War,” the recently-released PBS documentary; Tadatoshi Akiba, mayor of Hiroshima and president of Mayors for Peace; Imam Arafat, the founder and president of Civilizations Exchange and Cooperation Foundation; and J. Brian Atwood, former USAID Administrator and current Dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

“Since its inception in 1947, AFS has taught millions of people that they can make a difference,” says Francisco Cazal, President and CEO of AFS Intercultural Programs. “By building bonds of friendship among young people and their communities all over the world, AFS is promoting the creation of a more peaceful world.”

For more information on the AFS 60th anniversary celebration and the World Congress, go to www.afs60.org.