Roshan Kalantarian, a 17-year-old St. John graduate from Gifft Hill School, was awarded the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad scholarship for the 2024-2025 school year. With this award, Kalantarian will begin the 11th grade in Senegal on Monday.
“I was excited to start college at a top liberal arts school with enough aid to attend college my first year, but I was a little disappointed about the study abroad opportunities at the college I chose,” said Kalantarian. So, even though they have graduated high school on St. John, they will attend grade 11 based on their age in Senegal’s school system.
Currently, Kalantarian is enjoying the experience so far and has already spent a month in Senegal with their host family. “It feels kind of special knowing that there’s not that many students doing this program in the United States. It is a very prestigious program in these countries. It feels like being an ambassador truly of the United States knowing that there’s not that many students doing the program here in Senegal,” Kalantarian said.
Kalantarian is one of 65 students who was competitively selected from across the United States to participate in the program. Through participation in the YES Abroad program, Kalantarian is at the forefront of citizen diplomacy, serving as a “youth ambassador” in Senegal.
Initially, Kalantarian learned about the relations between the United States and China in a global context and how their relationship impacts the entire world. Through that program, Kalantarian learned how to interact with Chinese students and learned how to do cross-cultural communication. That contributed to Kalantarian’s selection for the program.
Additionally, Kalantarian said that the program was looking for someone who obtained resilience, and as a Virgin Islander, that was something they saw.
“It feels special and also nice to be able to communicate with other cohorts in other countries,” referring to others participating in the program. “My cohorts are close so it is interesting to see other cohorts have different dynamics because they might live in multiple different countries that they are hosted in,” Kalantarian said.
In Senegal, Kalantarian will enhance cross-cultural understanding and deepen trust by building lasting relationships with their host family and peers. Kalantarian will also engage in volunteer service and leadership training to help their host community. For now, Kalantarian’s experience has already broadened their horizons, meeting lots of nice people and visiting different bakeries and ice-cream shops, among other fun activities. “They are cool people”, said Kalantarian, who has already made friends with YES Alumni.
“I think it is important to learn about other cultures and the world we are living in because in the Virgin Islands, I feel like we are kind of closed off to the other side of the world. We don’t have the same conversations about Asia and Africa that I can have now in Senegal. I think it’s very important to broaden your horizons and learn about the world through different perspectives,” said Kalantarian.
You can follow Kalantarian and her cohort’s Instagram pages by following @roshan.abroad and @yesabroadsenegal.
The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Abroad program was first authorized by the U.S. Congress in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, as an effort to increase dialogue and mutual understanding between people of the United States and people of countries with significant Muslim populations. For the 2024-2025 academic year, YES Abroad provided the opportunity for Americans to study for one academic year in 11 diverse countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, North Macedonia, Senegal, Thailand, and Türkiye, according to a press release.
Chalinda George, MKenzii Gittens, Steven Henry, Bennett Knopp, Devaughn Richards and Marina Gasperi, all students from The Center for Educational Growth on St. Croix, contributed to this story.
