Five students from France will call the Moose Jaw area home for the next three months after Prairie South School Division signed an agreement with an organization that handles international student exchanges.
Prairie South is teaming up with YES Canada to bring over the students to study at three high schools in the division from April to June. Two students will study at A.E. Peacock Collegiate, two youths will learn at Central Collegiate, and one will learn at Assiniboia Composite High School.
The partnership is part of a three-year agreement that will see YES Canada bring over about a dozen international students in 2023 and 2024. Depending upon their family’s preference, the youths will stay and learn in Saskatchewan for the whole year, for a semester or a “spring audit” from April to June.
YES Canada has a home-stay co-ordinator who will recruit families to accept the international students. The co-ordinator will then perform a followup to ensure everything is going well.
The youth exchange organization reached out to several school divisions in Saskatchewan earlier in the 2021-22 year to see if they wanted to team up for this initiative, explained Ryan Boughen, PSSD’s director of education. The division’s senior administration discussed the proposal and then invited representatives from YES Canada to meet for further discussions.
“We thought it was a good idea, so we took it to the board. The board really liked the idea,” he said. “We thought it would be good value for our school division and our students and for international students. And then once the board thought it was a great idea, we connected with YES again and decided to go for it.”
This is the first time Prairie South is working with YES Canada, the education director continued. However, the division usually receives a few international students each year, who usually come to study at either Cornerstone Christian School or Briercrest Christian Academy.
“I would say we’re being more strategic with this program in that this is a program we’d like to have for some time,” Boughen remarked. “And it’s purposeful in that we want to have international students in our schools since we think there’s some value for our students and for international students.”
Since YES Canada is similar to a broker that recruits international youths to learn overseas, part of the agreement stipulates that Prairie South cannot seek another broker for a similar purpose, Boughen said. He noted that PSSD doesn’t plan to do that since both entities have a good working relationship.
Division administration is currently building a strategic business plan that looks at the number of students it will place in years 1, 2, and 3, he continued. Since Prairie South is mainly rural, one benefit of international students coming is they will be able to experience rural life, something they might not receive anywhere else.
“We just think adding diversity to our schools is a positive thing, for our students and their students,” Boughen said. “And there is also a piece of YES Canada that, should our students want to experience an international experience … then that is also a future thing we could look at.
“So, it also allows our students to have an experience they normally wouldn’t have if we hadn’t partnered with YES.”
Added Boughen, “We’re happy to partner with YES and offer international programming to students from afar. It’s an exciting opportunity for Prairie South.”
