The President's Award is given each year to an Ayusa Regional Director who has shown an outstanding commitment to excellence and a deep passion for cultural exchange. This year’s recipient is Traci Clary of the Heartland region, an extraordinary Senior Regional Director from Missouri. Traci has worked with Ayusa since 2003. For 10 years, Traci has shown extreme dedication to her students and her host families, organizing wonderful monthly activities for her students, as well as providing excellent support to all of the students in her care. For the 2012-2013 school year, Traci has 31 placements, and 6 field staff who directly report to her. She is an Ayusa superstar!
Traci’s Regional Manager (RM), Jessica Anderson, considers Traci to be an invaluable asset to the Heartland team’s success. Jessica says, “Traci Clary has gone above and beyond this year for service for Ayusa. She is an excellent leader, encourager, and mentor. She has a very strong program that she runs year after year. She has exciting events that incorporate her large cluster together as a team. She meets with her students each month. They take trips to Six Flags, the Missouri state Capitol, participate in International Education Week, and Global Service Day. She also organizes a Diabetes run with her group as well- they raised over $1000 this year for diabetes research. She partners with her local Girl Scout troop on events- what a wonderful idea! Above all, Traci is a friend to everyone on the team. When someone new joins the Heartland team, Traci reaches out to each of them, helps with ideas and mentoring them to get their area “up and running.”
Her RM also considers her to be one of her best friends. This past year, when her RM had to take some time off for family reasons, she stepped in and fulfilled the role of temporary RM and did it with excellence. She assisted in helping the team meet their goals last year, even with the RM absent. She is smart, organized, a leader, fun, creative, and knows how to get the job done! She is an amazing woman- she juggles a full time job, 4 children, a family, and Ayusa- all with excellence! We are so glad to have her as a part of the Ayusa team!
Traci has also been a host family over the years. She loves her students and this work. Traci is an outstanding member of the Ayusa family and we are thrilled to recognize her efforts with the 2013 President's Award!





One of the best components of the weekend was our partnership with Abraham’s Vision, who provided host families for the students for Friday and Saturday nights and also did some of their “group process” programming with the students on Sunday.
Sunday we had an Abraham’s Vision workshop that centered on identity and what that means both here in the US and also returning home to their various home countries. It was a really intense day and the students really dug in and got deep with what they were reflecting on and sharing with the group. It was nothing short of humbling to hear what these incredible students had to say about their year here and its impact on them, as well as what they hope for in the future. It was abundantly clear that they have grown so much and are going to continue on to be stellar leaders!

She has placed students from Brazil, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Korea, China and many other countries in schools in the Gateway area, including Clinton High School, Camanche High School, Fulton High School and Prince of Peace. The students usually stay for a semester or a year and many choose to come back for additional years, although the number of exchange students at local schools has declined significantly over the years..jpg)

Deb has hosted 17 students from 12 different countries. She first got interested in hosting through her daughter, who became best friends with an exchange student from Denmark. The student had such a positive impact on the Prokop family, that they decided to experience the benefits of hosting for themselves. Shortly after, Deb decided to work for Ayusa as a Regional Director, as well as continuing to host. She has worked for Ayusa for 4 years and loves how thoroughly Ayusa screens their exchange students.

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"My favorite phrase and an attitude I will encourage my exchange students to embrace was 'Quisiera probar todos!' which roughly translates to 'I want to try it all!'”
Ten years after this picture was taken, I am working in the San Francisco Ayusa office continuing the legacy and tradition of one of the values that my parents worked to instill in me: tolerance through exposure to cultural diversity. It all started with my brother, Mike, at 15. Mike spent one year in Norrkoping, Sweden that changed his life forever. I still remember hearing his tearful messages on our answering machine while he was going through the depths of homesickness, watching my mother's painful reaction and my father reassuring us that this was essential for his growth and success. When Mike came back to the States, he expected everyone to speak to him in Swedish. Ha! Oh, the joys of readjusting to your own culture!
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