The Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program, a U.S. State Department-sponsored scholarship program for students from the countries of the former Soviet Union, celebrated its twentieth year last month at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C. FLEX provides scholarship funding for students to travel to the U.S., attend an American high school for a full academic year, and live with a host family.
The program has its origins in the FREEDOM Support Act, which was passed by Congress in 1992. The Act was sponsored by Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, who envisioned it as a way to build future U.S. relations with the countries of the former Soviet Union based upon links of personal friendship and mutual understanding. Around 1,100 FLEX students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine study in U.S. high schools each year, totaling over 21,000 students in the 20 year history of the program.
Being selected to receive a FLEX scholarship is regarded as an extremely prestigious honor. There is a rigorous application process, where students are selected for their academic achievements and involvement in extracurricular and community activities. FLEX students are expected to be ambassadors for their country while in the U.S. and are expected to teach their peers about America when they return, so they also must have outstanding personal and leadership qualities as well.
Students are selected by a volunteer committee of application readers in the U.S. Recruitment and selection for FLEX students is facilitated by American Councils for International Education (ACIE).FLEX alumni are highly regarded in their home countries as industrious and talented youth who have gone on to pursue prestigious careers. Alumni include the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, a Deputy in Ukraine’s parliament, the VerkhovnaRada, and the Chief Editor of an English-language news channel in Russia.
Maruf, a FLEX alumni from Uzbekistan who was in the U.S from 1997 - 98, is currently working for the United Nations in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and told the Center for Cultural Interchange:
“The FLEX program was very useful and gave more opportunities to many people to go on in their lives. For example the FLEX students who have been in the USA, 95 percent are very modern and successful and self-realized people, they are getting more opportunities because of the one year student life in USA gives [them] time to think positively, in any cases to see bright sights of the life.”
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