To promote mutual understanding, cultural interchange and a more peaceful world, ASSIST provides opportunities for outstanding international students to attend the finest American independent secondary schools on one-year scholarships, and for students and teachers from these schools to engage in educational experiences abroad.

ASSIST is a nonprofit organization with tax-exempt status incorporated in the state of Vermont. ASSIST is designated by the United States State Department as an authorized Exchange Visitor Program. ASSIST is also able to facilitate the issuance of the J-1 visa under which our students study in the U.S. for one academic year on Exchange Visitor status.

ASSIST does not discriminate, nor does it condone harassment, on the basis of gender, race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, disability, age, sexual orientation or any other basis proscribed by applicable policies or laws.

The vision of ASSIST is to create a worldwide circle of future leaders – friends who have come to know and respect one another and one another’s culture through sharing a year of study and living together.

We believe that connecting future American leaders with future leaders of other nations makes a substantial contribution to diminishing misunderstandings that so frequently occur across national boundaries, cultures, racial designations and religious beliefs. International outreach begins with individual relationships – relationships established through a year of academic and cultural immersion which are designed to affect peers, teachers, friends, family members and business associates for a lifetime.

As we are poised on the edge of an uncertain historical period, the intent of ASSIST is to continue to broaden our role in fostering peace and understanding across national divides. We believe that now, more than ever, nurturing humane leaders through cross-cultural interchange affords a unique opportunity to influence the course of future world events in a positive direction.