Concourse International

A network of branches at schools across the world among whom students can go on virtual exchanges, open to ALL students regardless of wealth, geographic location, or connections. 

Concourse International is an organization with branches (clubs) at schools across the world, under which schools can go on student-run virtual one-on-one school-school exchanges with other schools in the network. Exchanges are opportunities for students in both countries to talk with each other, learn about each others' countries and cultures, as well as form connections. 

Each branch is led by a student leader, who opens and hosts exchanges, coordinates with Concourse management and their respective school administrations where applicable, and decides the times, and pairings for the exchanges involving that school. Each school leader has an account to set their availability in their time zone, and pairings between two schools in different countries are made with an algorithm on a website, to which students at that school can sign up for the exchange in subaccounts. Readings about the other country are provided to all students, along with guiding questions and rules.  

Sample USA-UAE Readings

Guiding Questions

Exchange Rules

Each exchange involves a video call with two 1-hour breakout room sessions for a total of 2 hours. After this, participants may elect to continue free talk for however long is desired. All exchanges are held in English.

In the 21st century, the world is more globalized than ever, with countless countries, cultures, and customs coming together. As such, opportunities to learn about other countries and cultures are ever so important. But these opportunities are not provided to all.

In school, classes are focused more on history than modern-day. They also offer a disproportionate focus on Western Europe, leaving much of the world unrepresented. We learn more about Stalin than modern Russia, more about Napoleon than modern France, and often leave out the rest of the world entirely. In addition, texts and pictures lack opportunities to interact dynamically with students of other countries and cultures. 

To learn about others in such a dynamic sense, however, there are few options available. You can: 

1. Be incredibly rich, and afford to physically travel abroad. 

2. Apply for a program, in-person or virtual, which is often incredibly selective.

3. Live in a big city with lots of international connections.

This largely leaves students who are low-income or live in rural areas with almost no opportunities to interact with students from and learn about other countries and cultures. Because of this, the disparity in education grows, as low-income and rural students are deprived of opportunity and become less equipped with 21st century international skills. In addition, sentiments of distrust and hatred, racism and xenophobia towards people from other countries and cultures grow because of a lack of exposure and understanding, as does polarization between urban and rural areas.

Because of a lack of opportunities to interact with and learn from students in other countries and cultures, many low-income and rural students do not recognize the importance of such education, are unable to afford it, or are simply unaware of such opportunities. 

Concourse International aims to solve this by making international and intercultural education more accessible and fostering connections to bring people together, with virtual exchanges open to ALL students without the need for money, applications, or a favorable geographic position.

We are differentiating ourselves from other exchange programs because we are not advertising to the general public for any student to individually participate. Rather, by having branches at each individual school, exchanges can be advertised to ALL students at that school, so that everyone can be aware of such opportunities. In addition, instead of amassing a conglomerate of students from across the world into one exchange, we hold individual one-on-one school-school exchanges between two schools in two different countries. That way, rather than simply connecting students, we are also connecting communities, which creates a feeling of belonging and promotes international and intercultural learning to students who might have been unaware of such opportunities initially. 

I initially identified the problem from my personal experiences, of growing up in rural Ohio and experiencing firsthand the lack of accessible opportunities to learn about foreign countries and cultures, especially compared to more affluent and urban areas, a sentiment which is shared by many in my community.

I consulted many students across the world to understand why virtual exchanges weren't more utilized and how best to solve the problem. I consulted students from around the USA and Japan in the Stanford SPICE Reischauer Scholars Program, students in Iraq, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE in The Experiment Digital, and students from across the world in the Global Citizen Year Academy. Through this, I learned that much like the USA, international and intercultural education is incredibly limited and needed in countries across the world. 

I also consulted many other participants of these programs, including student facilitators about their experiences on what could be improved, where I learned that many participants did not enjoy the 'forced' activities sponsored by the programs and that they would much rather learn about other countries and cultures through conversations and by being social. Through this, the formatting for the exchanges developed.

Finally, I held trial exchanges between the USA, Japan, and the UAE with feedback forms to determine what other needs would be needed, gathering input from over 50 students in all 3 countries on the format and structure of Concourse. 

Topics of Interest of USA-Japan Exchange

Feedback Form of USA-Japan Exchange

We have completed 3 exchanges, and currently have 13 exchanges planned, between schools in the USA, Japan, the UAE, Algeria, and Brazil. Over 50 students have participated and we are currently finalizing the development of the website and algorithm. In addition, we are expanding to new countries, including India and Nigeria, and adding schools to countries already in the network. 

List of Schools in Network:

USA

- William Mason High School, Mason OH

- West Linn High School, West Linn OR

- Boulder High School, Boulder CO

Japan

- Hiroo Gakuen Secondary School, Tokyo

- Mita International School, Tokyo

- Shibuya Senior High School, Tokyo

UAE

- The Westminster School Dubai, Dubai

Algeria

- School Belkacemi Ali Saharidj, Saharidj

Brazil

- Poliedro Colégio São José dos Campos, São José dos Campos

Exchange between William Mason High School (USA) and Hiroo Gakuen Secondary School (Japan)

Our solution uses technology in two ways.

In the backend, the website is where schools are paired and where participants track their progress. Each school has an account run by a school leader on the website, under whom students at that school can create subaccounts, approved by the school leader. The school leader sets the availability for exchanges on the school account in their local time zone, factoring in times in which school is out of session and in which most students will be able to participate at that school. Through their subaccounts, students can participate sign up for exchanges that involve the school, as well as access a virtual 'passport' with digital stamps for each country exchanged with. 

Pairings are then made through an algorithm, which creates a virtual exchange based on the date and time availability between a school and another school in a rotating area based on the UN's defined geographic areas, to ensure that multiple regions of the world are represented in a given school's virtual exchanges. 

UN regional areas with which schools matched for exchanges rotate.

The exchanges themselves take place over video calls. We are currently using Zoom meetings generated for each exchange, but are working to build our own platform automatically linked to the website so that students can keep track of which exchanges they have attended, attendance can be automatically tracked, and digital passport stamps can be automatically given.

Currently, we have served 50 students and will reach 50 more in the next month in upcoming exchanges, connecting 9 schools in 5 countries. 

Our goal for growth involves adding to the network: 

- 5 new schools per month, of which at least one is in a country not currently represented in the network (60 new schools per year)

- At least 10 participants in virtual exchanges per school 

With these numbers, in the period of one year, we will have expanded to at least 69 schools with at least 6,900 high school students connected in virtual exchanges. This number is a minimum estimation, as each school will have at least one exchange per month and presumes that the same 10 people will participate in the exchanges. Assuming that at least 5 unique people participate in each exchange, this will mean that 8,280 high school students will be impacted. 

There are numerous factors that will determine the final number of people who are impacted, including the exact number, dates, and degree of sharing at each school for each exchange. Nonetheless, we will use these numbers for reference.

1. In line with UN SDG4, we aim to bring quality international and intercultural education to a wider range of schools by giving a platform in which students can directly exchange and connect with students from across the world, increasing empathy and understanding among students across national boundaries and decreasing polarization.

2. In line with UN SDG10, we will reduce inequalities in opportunities for education by bringing the network and opportunity for virtual exchange focusing on low-income and rural schools, allowing for low-income and rural students access to global opportunities and connections.

To do this, we will

• Expand through hosting area-area exchanges involving many schools to give students at more schools an impression and experience of virtual exchanges, followed by providing a chance to open a new branch at said schools. This will allow students at schools not currently in our network to have the virtual exchange experience who can later start a new branch, expanding our network.
• Develop our own virtual platform for networking and video calls so that exchanges can be held directly on the website without the need for third-party apps
• Partner with existing organizations that offer international/intercultural opportunities to increase the spread of schools not only wide, in many different countries, but deep, with many schools in an individual country.

We are using the following indicators to determine if we are making progress in expansion: 

• Number of schools in the network
• Number of exchanges held (including the number of exchanges held per school)
• Number of participants per exchange

These indicators will be used to ensure that Concourse is expanding and reaching a wide variety of schools and students, as well as ensuring that the number of participants per exchange is in line with goals. 

To ensure we are making a consistent impact and offering services to low-income and rural students, we will also hold quarterly reviews on the number of schools in low-income and rural areas to ensure that that number is sufficient given the current size of the network of schools

We are also using indicators to ensure the quality of the exchanges, namely:

• Quality of exchanges itself
• Quality of supplemental readings

To do this, we will send out feedback forms to all students after the exchanges, as well as to the school leaders, asking them for their feedback on the quality of the exchanges, as well as the supplemental readings provided. The readings will also be regularly scrutinized and reviewed to ensure that the information is short, sweet, unbiased, informative, and up to date. 

Responses from Feedback Form of Exchange between West Linn High School (USA) and Shibuya Senior High School (Japan)

1. Differing education systems: Schools in different countries vary greatly in their methods of communication. In Algeria and Nigeria, for example, communication is not based on email, but rather on physical meetings and mail, meaning that to gain approval for each of the exchanges and to advertise within schools, one may be able to simply send an email in the USA or Japan, but would need to physically send a letter to schools in Algeria and Nigeria to gain approval, limiting the efficiency of expansion and communication to new schools to hold area-area exchanges.

2. Language barriers: All exchanges are held in English, the de facto language of international communication. This greatly limits the number of schools and participants we can reach in non-English speaking countries, particularly in rural and low-income areas. Nonetheless, much like the real world, we believe that it is important to make do with whatever language skills are available, to continue to have international and intercultural exchange. 

3. Cultural Bias: In many areas, learning about other countries and exchanging with foreigners is not prioritized, particularly in the United States. Therefore, we work to promote not only ourselves, but also virtual exchanges in general.

The team currently consists of 8 people located in 5 countries, with the 5 on the team application listed below:

Jiahao (USA), president, is a gap year student with the vision for Concourse International. Growing up in Ohio and having personally experienced the lack of international and intercultural opportunities in rural and low-income areas, he is dedicated to the mission. Having participated in numerous international programs forming connections across and consulted numerous stakeholders, he has developed the plan for Concourse International.

Mohammed (UAE), vice president, grew in the multicultural city of Dubai and understands the importance of learning about other countries and cultures. Mohammed participated in The Experiment Digital summer program and is the head boy of The Westminster School Dubai, with experience in team leadership and financial management.

Ibtissam (Algeria), operations team, is from a small town in rural Algeria who also has extensive recognition of the lack of foreign opportunities in rural areas. Speaking English as a third language, behind Berber and French, she also recognizes the difficulty that language barriers hold, and is committed to bringing people together regardless of geographic location or language ability. 

Jessica (USA), website director, is an incoming Carnegie Mellon computer science student, heavily involved in Science Olympiad and Hack Club. She is able to easily build and maintain the website, both backend including the algorithm, as well as the individual pages and account features. In addition, Jessica also shares the passion for international

Lia (Ecuador), design director, has experience in art and digital design, posters, certificates, social media posts, and website design. Having participated in the Global Citizen Year Academy, Lia is also incredibly passionate about bringing opportunities to exchange and connect with people from across the world to more people.  

Concourse International was awarded a grant from the Stephens Initiative in partnership with The Experiment Digital, a virtual program in which 3 people on our team have participated.