[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 193 (Tuesday, December 13, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S7132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF WORLD LEARNING

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I rise today to celebrate the 90th 
anniversary of World Learning, a nonprofit organization based in 
Brattleboro, VT, that is dedicated to building stronger human 
connections through people-to-people exchanges, international 
education, and global development programs.
  World Learning is more than Vermont's window to the world; it is its 
door. Its history is deeply rooted in the Green Mountains of southern 
Vermont. The organization is guided by our State's values of tolerance 
and interest in the world, living a purposeful life through serving 
others, and building communities by welcoming newcomers with empathy 
and dignity.
  I am proud that World Learning's impact extends well beyond Vermont. 
World Learning through its School for International Training--SIT--
administers more than 90 development programs in over 30 countries, 
teaching English to refugees, expanding STEM training opportunities, 
and increasing job opportunities for young adults from all backgrounds. 
World Learning's youth, academic, and professional exchanges bring over 
2,000 emerging leaders annually to the U.S. from nearly 160 countries 
for degree and nondegree programs and professional development and 
networking opportunities. These programs build enduring ties between 
future leaders and their U.S. host communities and place American 
culture and values front and center.
  In 1932, World Learning--at that time known as the Experiment in 
International Living--established the first program in the country to 
enable young Americans to study abroad and engage in intercultural 
communication. Through the Experiment, students first lived in the 
homes of families from the countries where they studied. The then-
radical idea, of the ``home stay,'' as the Experiment's founder Dr. 
Donald Watt put it, is how people would ``learn to live together by 
living together.''
  In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the Experiment sent young 
Americans across the Atlantic to Western Europe as peacemakers to 
assist in rebuilding war-ravaged communities across the continent. 
These young Americans became our Nation's first generation engaged in 
international community service and international volunteerism.
  At the height of the Cold War, President John F. Kennedy asked young 
Americans to serve their country in the Peace Corps and build human 
connections and a greater understanding between nations and people. The 
Experiment was the inspiration behind the vision of international 
service by Kennedy and Sargent Shriver, the first Peace Corps Director. 
Shriver was a participant in the Experiment, traveling to Germany and 
Austria in 1934, and then leading other youth groups for the 
organization in 1936 and 1939. In 1964, another prominent innovator, 
Dr. John A. Wallace, founded SIT, an extension of the Experiment, and 
directed SIT until 1978. Jack was a good friend whose leadership at SIT 
built on the Experiment platform with programs that sent thousands of 
young learners around the world. Over time, World Learning has helped 
design and launch nearly 70 Peace Corps projects and train volunteers 
for service in more than 30 countries.
  The Experiment also rose to the challenge of supporting the U.S. 
State Department in the largest refugee training and resettlement 
program in history, assisting more than 250,000 South East Asian 
refugees at processing centers in Thailand and Indonesia. They led 
skills assessments, English language instruction, and cultural 
orientation training. They demonstrated once again the organization's 
steadfast commitment to building human connections, healthy 
communities, and peace.
  That commitment continues today, at World Learning's headquarters in 
the town of Brattleboro, where they welcome refugees and support their 
integration into communities around southern Vermont. As the first stop 
in Vermont for newcomers from Afghanistan, Ukraine, and elsewhere, 
World Learning brings together staff, faculty, alumni, and neighbors to 
offer language, cultural orientation, and friendship in a program that 
is a national model for effective refugee integration.
  I have covered a lot of history in these remarks. That is to be 
expected when one speaks about World Learning and its many 
contributions over the past 90 years. This is a time when the world 
needs what World Learning offers and does best. Many of the challenges 
we face in my State of Vermont are the same challenges seen in towns 
and provinces in countries around the world, such as climate change, 
resettling refugees, combatting infectious diseases, protecting 
democracy, and the list goes on.
  I am just one of many Vermonters who takes immense pride in World 
Learning's history of bringing people together to develop innovative 
solutions to shared challenges and to recognize our common humanity. I 
thank World Learning--its staff and faculty, alumni, and participants--
for their achievements and important ongoing efforts.

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