The Trump administration’s pause on scheduling visa appointments for international students is extending far beyond the intended target of higher education, leaving high school exchange programs scrambling – including those in Durango.
The Durango High Noon Rotary Club, a community service-oriented volunteer organization that facilitates youth exchange, is set to bring in three students to Durango High School for the upcoming school year. They must obtain J-1 visas to enter the country.
Two of the students – from Chile and France – have secured interview appointments in their respective countries. The third student, from Uganda, submitted a payment to the embassy in Kampala, but while the payment was processing, visa interview appointments were put on hold.
Durango High Noon is one of the participating clubs in the Mountain & Plains District 5470 Rotary Youth Exchange, which serves the southern two-thirds of Colorado. The program allows international students to receive an American high school education for a year, live with host families and experience a new culture. In turn, American students can study abroad in other countries.
“Our program is a true cultural exchange,” said Meg Foley, head of Durango High Noon’s International Committee and Youth Exchange program. “They essentially go home as ambassadors of American culture.”
Of the 17 international students accepted by Mountain & Plains RYE for the upcoming school year, seven were unable to schedule visa appointments.
“They’re in this limbo state right now, where they’re waiting for the visa appointments to be reopened,” said the organization’s chair, John Stroud.
Stroud said there’s still uncertainty about whether the 10 students who were able to schedule appointments will receive their visas.
Even before the State Department issued the pause, staffing issues resulting from the downsizing of the federal government had caused a substantial backlog in scheduling appointments.
“Some of our students were already being told that the earliest they could get in to see a consulate would be October,” Stroud said. “With this delay, that just pushes those kids further back.”
Mountain & Plains RYE hosts an in-person orientation for incoming students in Durango each August. Many of the students won’t be able to attend – or even study abroad at all – if they don’t get their visas in time.
International programs that send students to study in the U.S. rely on student fees to fund their operations. If they are no longer able to, they might not be able to host American students in exchange.
In some cases, however – like that of Zimbabwean student Tinashe Vareta – Mountains & Plains RYE funds the exchange for those who cannot afford it.
“Every kid deserves to have that amazing experience: to know what U.S. culture is like, to travel, to meet other kids and to improve their language skills,” said Vareta, who spent the 2022-23 school year at Durango High School.
Vareta had complications obtaining a visa for his exchange program, but was successful on his second attempt.
Aside from the various sports, extracurriculars and friend circles he was involved in, Vareta said sharing his own culture with his classmates was one of his favorite parts of his experience.
The Durango High Noon Rotary Club rallied to buy Vareta’s family in Zimbabwe a home after he shared at a weekly meeting that they were unhoused. He said the experience was life-changing – not only for him, but also for his family.
“This is one of the greatest experiences a person can go through,” Vareta said.
Mountain & Plains RYE and its participating clubs are calling for clarification of the administration's order and to allow high school students to obtain visas.
“We’re hoping that the U.S. State Department will recognize that secondary exchange programs are different than the postsecondary exchange programs, which seems to be what they’re trying to go after,” Stroud said. “Our program is different and should be allowed to proceed unimpeded.”
Richa Sharma is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C. She can be reached at rsharma@durangoherald.com.
