AFS San Diego

by Jim Dooley, AFS Volunteer

Melissa Felipe, currently a junior at Fallbrook High School, will be traveling to Japan this summer as an AFS exchange student. She departs June 23, will stay with a host family in Tokyo, and will attend a language school studying Japanese for about six weeks, returning to Fallbrook August 4.

Melissa first learned about the AFS program from conversations with a friend who had attended an AFS presentation in her French class. Melissa was interested, and was able to get an AFS catalogue from her friend. From telephone calls to AFS and on-line inquiries she was able to work her way through the application process and learned that she would be accepted as an exchange student in the early part of this year. She has raised money for her trip from working at the Boys and Girls Club, from fund raisers such as raffles, and from solicitations to local businesses and charitable organizations. She also received support from the local AFS chapter and her parents.

Melissa lives with her mother and step dad, Iselda and Jenaro Ramirez, and has a sister Luisa and brother Jenaro. She has traveled with her family to the East Coast, to Oregon, and to Mexico. Melissa says she loves to travel. Her favorite classes in school are history and art. She enjoys making sketches, and leads the Arts and Crafts activities at the Boys and Girls Club three afternoons a week.

Melissa is fluent in Spanish, and is currently studying American Sign Language. She has done some beginning study in Japanese using material she received from a tutor in her AVID class. She is looking forward to learning more about the Japanese language and culture.

AFS is an international non-profit exchange program run by volunteers, and each year the United States sends and receives some 3000 exchange students. Those who would like to know more about the program can browse this web site or click on AFS International or AFS USA at the top of the page.