Take Stock Monroe students live outside their comfort zones in the American Exchange Program

News via WLRN Public Media

Four seniors at Key West High School participated in the American Exchange Project (AEP) this year, all of which were part of the Monroe County Education Foundation’s Take Stock in Children program.

The exchange’s goal is to connect young people in a divided country by sending AEP participants to places that are politically, socio-economically, and culturally different from the place they’ve grown up in.

“Many of our students have never left Key West or never left the islands,” said Chuck Licis Mason, the Executive Director of the Monroe County Education Foundation, which oversees the Take Stock program.

The AEP, which is free to all participants, sends students to various places for a week filled with community events, cultural immersion, volunteer and professional development opportunities.

The Key West High School participants went to places like Arvada, Colorado; Albany and Palo Alto, California and Portland, Maine. To read more about these Take Stock students’ experiences in AEP, click here.