Study Abroad
OWN in the World
Less than 1% of high school students in the USA study abroad! 82% of study abroad participants are White/Caucasian. Low-income and youth of color are especially underrepresented in international exchange programs.
TRANSFORMATIVE: Sending our youth abroad is probably the most transformative experience of all the components of OneWorld Now!. OWN youth return from these trips with an expanded worldview, a passion for pursuing additional travel opportunities and a much clearer vision and commitment to pursuing higher education and achieving their long-term goals. Furthermore, our OneWorld Now! youth abroad often break the stereotypes of “what it means to be American” due their diverse backgrounds, cultural sensitivity and prior knowledge of critical languages. The typical OWN study abroad experience involves a homestay, service learning project and continued language study.
ACCESS: OneWorld Now! is committed to making study abroad affordable through full and partial scholarships to our students, who are mostly low-income and youth of color and have historically had the least access to these opportunities. OneWorld Now! creates partnerships with a variety of study abroad providers with similar values to make study abroad affordable and accessible to our youth. Less than 1% of US high school students study abroad and most study abroad participants come from privileged socio-economic backgrounds. OneWorld Now! seeks to increase the percentage of US students studying abroad nationwide, especially for underserved youth!
GAP YEAR: In addition to summer study abroad opportunities, OneWorld Now! encourages our youth to consider yearlong “Gap Year” abroad experience, typically during the year between high school and college. Students may take their “Gap Year” abroad during their senior year of high school or their first year of college as well. Regardless, OWN encourages youth to volunteer in local communities and pursue language studies during their time abroad and then works with high schools, college and universities to support credits for their experiences abroad.
IMPACT: Our program evaluations have demonstrated that one of the most significant areas of impact that OneWorld Now! has on a student’s life in their increased aspirations for higher education as well as their increased involvement in community service. OWN youth who study abroad are more engaged in global affairs and then tend to seek out additional international opportunities in college and beyond. OneWorld Now! is one of the nation’s leading organization’s in the providing access to study abroad opportunities to low-income and minority youth, who are sorely unrepresented in most study abroad programs.
The first national large-scale survey on the long-term impact of study abroad was done by IES (www.iesabroad.org). They surveyed 3,400 IES alumni who studied abroad from 1950 to 1999. Regardless of where the students studied and for how long, the data shows that studying abroad is usually a defining moment in a young person’s life and continues to influence the participant’s life for the years after the experience. Furthermore, 96% reported increased self-confidence, 80% reported enhanced interest in academic study and 98% reported that it helped them better understand their own cultural values and biases.
