Four Exchange Students Meet with Representative District 80 and Business Owner Long Tran 

Recently, students on a scholarship-based high school exchange program met with Long Tran, a Peachtree Corners resident, business owner and Georgia House Representative of District 80. The four students come from former Soviet-controlled communist countries, ranging from The Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Serbia, and were thrilled to learn from Tran. 

Tran, originally from Columbus, Ohio, moved to Georgia in 2010 and opened his business, Peachy Corners Café, in January 2020. Tran is also a second-generation immigrant whose parents come from Vietnam. Tran’s unique perspective was deeply fascinating to the students who prepared questions for him about topics ranging from business, politics and life advice. 

The students: Oliwia, from Poland; Aicha, from Germany; Andrea, from Poland; and Stepan, from the Czech Republic, were placed in Alabama through their respective international exchange programs. 

Scholar students

Oliwia, Andrea and Stepan came to the States through the FLEX Scholarship, a highly competitive program with three intense rounds of applications, admitting around 2.5% of applicants out of almost 60,000 each year.

Aicha became an abroad student through The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX), a joint program between the U.S. and German Governments for High School students. CBYX is similarly highly competitive, accepting 3-4% of their pool of applicants from Germany yearly. 

Through their programs, they enjoy enhancement activities, such as meeting with Tran, to help them learn and grow. The students, besides learning about Tran’s background and successes, left with meaningful life advice. 

“I learned how to be successful,” said Aicha. “It’s so good to have some hope and goals in mind to be successful and work hard.”

“I feel like just talking to him, he calmed me down about my future and that I have time to change,” said Andrea. “He said that with willpower you can do everything.”

Enriching experiences

Danielle Hardaman, a Local Representative for ASSE (International Student Exchange Programs), accompanied the high schoolers as they met with Tran. One of her many roles in ASSE is treating students to enhancement activities. 

“We also do some fun things as well, but we take them to a lot of local historic museums, hockey games and things that would be normal American culture-type stuff,” said Hardaman. “We try and keep it a balance of fun and educational so they can kind of see all sides of American society.”

Additionally, the students are involved heavily in service work during their time in America and must have 50 hours of service work completed during their time in the exchange program. 

“I enjoy doing community projects,” said Oliwia. “We made one a few weeks ago, which helped our community look for food banks, and before that, we made an after-school program for kids.” 

Also, students in the program can actively compare American culture to that of their home country. 

“I learned that people can be very different but still find common ground,” said Stepan. “I come from a country that is not religious at all because we have a history with the communist regime. When I came here my closest friends were very religious, but we focused on what we had in common and learned about each other and became friends.”

Learning opportunities

However, not only do the students learn through this program, but almost anyone who comes into contact with these young and bright minds gains substantial insight. Pamela Stafford, a State Coordinator for ASSE, is also a host mom in the program and said she has learned as much from the students as the students learn from her. 

“The first thing you learn right off is that teenagers are the same everywhere,” said Stafford. “But then you learn how much freedom we have in America when you talk to some of these students. You also realize a lot about how you’re the same and how you’re different. I mean, …what the program is designed to do is teach you similarities and differences and how to bridge that gap and how to work together.” 

This meeting was an outstanding opportunity for both the students and Long Tran as everyone could learn from each other in the welcoming community of Peachtree Corners. 

Learn more about ASSE here.