The local California Central Coast Area Team of AFS Intercultural Programs is pleased to announce that Thousand Oaks, Calif., volunteer Jennifer Lasley has been selected by the national AFS-USA Volunteer Recognition Committee to be an AFS Flight Chaperone. In this role, Lasley will accompany 22 AFS students from New York to France on June 28, 2019. Her primary responsibility will be to ensure the welfare of the students before, during, and immediately after their international flight. She also will act as an official representative of AFS-USA with airport, airline, and government personnel.
The Flight Chaperone role is a highly sought-after AFS volunteer benefit, reserved for those who have been registered, active volunteers in their local communities for at least two years and have demonstrated consistently strong leadership, professionalism, and dedication to the AFS mission. Lasley has served as Hosting Coordinator since 2014, Area Team Co-Chair since 2017, and as a Student and Host Family Liaison in 2018 and 2019. This is her first time being selected as a chaperone.
Upon completion of her chaperone duties to France, Lasley plans to travel across Europe, visiting the nine AFS students she has hosted in Thousand Oaks since 2012: Sofia from Sweden (2012-13), Nana from Portugal (2013-14), Eliie from Switzerland (2014-15), Danel from Spain (2015-16), Martina from Italy (2015-16), Hanna from Norway (2016-17), Leonie from France (2017-18), Viktor from Denmark (2017-18), and Melina from Germany (2018-19, currently in Thousand Oaks). She also plans to visit the student she will host for the upcoming 2019-20 school year, who will come to Thousand Oaks in August. Lasley, a Thousand Oaks resident since 1991, works as a credentialed school nurse at Pacifica High School in Oxnard and teaches part-time at California State University, Fullerton.
“Seeing all my AFS kids in their home environments and meeting their families on one whirlwind trip across Europe will surely be a highlight of my life,” said Lasley. “I love being part of an organization that promotes peace through intercultural understanding, and that rewards its volunteers in such a way that enables us to nurture and build upon those connections long after the exchange year has ended.”
The AFS California Central Coast Area Team, serving Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties, as well as the Santa Clarita Valley, is actively seeking interested host families for AFS students arriving in August 2019. Interested individuals can call regional AFS staff at 805-750-1824. Local volunteers also can be reached through Facebook at www.facebook.com/AFSCCCTeam.