Youth Exchange Creates Cross-Cultural Links

A three-week trip abroad offering a once-in-a-lifetime view into another culture is the centerpiece of a new DaimlerChrysler exchange program for youths ages 15 to 17.

The program, Youth Beyond Borders, will allow the children of employees to spend three weeks in either Germany or the United States this summer, then take part in a reciprocal trip next year. The deadline for applications for this summer's exchange program is June 30.

In its pilot phase, the program will be open only to children of employees from the metro Detroit; Windsor, Ontario; Stuttgart and Sindelfingen areas. Sponsored by DaimlerChrysler, the program is seen as a way to develop close relationships between the new company's North American and German employees. In its first phase, the program will be aimed at the children of hourly or salaried employees.

Youth Beyond Borders is designed to be a two-track program. This means that participating families will interact both in Germany and in the United States over the next two summers. For example, if an American teen visits a German family this summer, the German family's teen will reciprocate with a visit to the family in the United States the following year.