Ashley Lin: My Project Exchange

My family immigrated to the United States from Hsinchu, Taiwan when I was five years old. As a child, I constantly grappled with my identity as a Taiwanese American, and learning about other cultures at school brought clarity to my own culture and sense of self. As a result, I’ve always wanted to study abroad, but I never thought I’d have the opportunity. It was always financially out of reach or otherwise inaccessible.

In 2018, I had the life-changing opportunity to serve as a U.S. Youth Ambassador to Uruguay, my first-ever study abroad experience. It helped me realize the importance of study abroad not just to help students clarify their own values and promote intercultural understanding, but to empower students to learn from and work with people who are different from them to tackle global challenges like climate change or gender inequality. When I came back, I knew I had to do everything I could to help others access this experience! It shocked me that around the world, less than 1% of students have access to these powerful learning opportunities (and of that 1%, less than one-third is people of color). I needed to do something. 

That’s when it hit me -- why couldn’t we run exchange programs online? Before travelling to Uruguay, I’d connected with my host family through WhatsApp. Between the photos, voice recordings, and text messages we’d exchanged, it had felt like I’d known them before I’d even met them. Upon returning home, I created a Google form, sent it to all of my friends in Vancouver, WA and in Uruguay, and said “if you fill out this form, I’ll match you with someone abroad to have a text message conversation.” 

We received so much interest in the span of a few short weeks that this Google form turned into Project Exchange (www.myprojectexchange.com), an international 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to breaking down barriers of access to meaningful, cross-cultural learning experiences for students furthest from opportunity. Today, we run 12-week online Digital Exchange Programs for middle & high school students in 23+ countries that use community journalism, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and design thinking to empower students to design and implement community action projects in their local community to tackle global issues!

If you’re interested in learning more about Project Exchange and potentially signing up for our Digital Exchange Program, please take a look at our website or Instagram page!