CIEE's BridgeUSA Celebration Tour: San Antonio Stop
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This month, the CIEE BridgeUSA Celebration Tour continued to its ninth stop in San Antonio, Texas, where host families, local businesses, and community and state supporters were recognized as champions and critical leaders for BridgeUSA programs that make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
As described by Rebecca Pasini, U.S. Department of State Deputy Assistant Secretary for Private Sector Exchanges, "BridgeUSA... is a powerful engine for pro-U.S. diplomacy that delivers measurable benefits at the local level."
To be effective, the BridgeUSA program needs champions at all levels – strong community and business leaders, strong BridgeUSA sponsors, and dedicated, hardworking participants – like the dedicated community leaders in San Antonio, who won CIEE 2025 BridgeUSA Champion Awards.
Front Row: Monika Prochazkova, San Antonio Council for International Visitors; Samantha Skory, San Antonio Office of Global Engagement; and Rebecca Lopez, IDEA South Flores College Preparatory. Middle Row: Sukh Kaur, San Antonio City Council; Carye Duffin and Martine Mangion, CIEE Senior Leaders; Nick Almendarez, Gaylord Texan; Emily Killen, BridgeUSA Host Sister of the Killen Family; Jana Menzel, German High School BridgeUSA Participant; Melissa and Rob Killen, High School BridgeUSA Host Parents; and CIEE’s CEO and President, James Pellow. Back row: Tanzila Kaiumova, and Martha Henry, San Antonio Office of Global Engagement; Brandon McGuiggan and Courtny Kobos Smith, CIEE; Erin El Tawil, BridgeUSA Local Coordinator; and Harris Atta, German High School BridgeUSA Participant and CBYX Recipient.
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Background and Impact of BridgeUSA
BridgeUSA was established by Congress in 1961 to advance American interests at home and abroad, enhancing American businesses, enriching American communities, and enhancing America’s image abroad, making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
Each year, BridgeUSA participants help America’s hospitality industry at beaches and amusement parks extend the summer tourism season by up to 45 days, or close to 30% of the season, allowing local businesses to stay open later and longer, leading to enhanced local economic benefits while injecting more than $1.2 billion into the broader U.S. economy each year.
BridgeUSA students pay their way to come to America, they make American businesses more profitable while they are here, and then they return to their home countries with a deeper knowledge and respect for American culture and American values, including the power of democracy and free speech. If BridgeUSA did not exist, someone would need to invent it, as it truly enriches all Americans.
Three-year BridgeUSA Celebration Tour
CIEE has planned a nationwide, three-year BridgeUSA Celebration Tour to showcase the many ways in which BridgeUSA positively impacts local communities. At each Celebration Tour stop, business leaders, local community advocates, and individual exemplary staff are recognized with the CIEE BridgeUSA Champion Award for their contributions to strengthening their local communities while advancing American interests.
Join the 2026 CIEE BridgeUSA Celebration Tour beginning in Park City, Utah, in March 2026!
More 2026 BridgeUSA Celebration Tour cities and dates will be announced during CIEE’s 2nd Annual International Exchange Conference (IEC), October 7-8, 2025, at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Join us at IEC to learn more about the power of BridgeUSA and network with leaders of Congress, the U.S. Department of State, and leading hosts from across America.
Spotlight on CIEE's Commitment to Quality and Care
Periodically, the BridgeUSA program (J-1 Visa) is critiqued by the media with a distinctly narrow focus on a handful of unhappy participants. The reality is that each year over 300,000 foreign students come to America on the BridgeUSA program, and the vast majority are thrilled with their experience, with tens of thousands coming back for a second or third experience of American culture and lifestyle.
Indeed, the vast majority of the 4,000 US businesses who receive and embrace BridgeUSA participants provide true American hospitality and a rich summer of intercultural experiences for the students. International students return home with positive memories and a more favorable impression of Americans and American values. We know this to be true because we’ve helped over one million BridgeUSA students live, learn, and work in the U.S. since 1961.
Since the inception of the BridgeUSA J-1 visa programs under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (the Fulbright-Hayes Act), CIEE has led the field of international exchange as the largest and longest-serving BridgeUSA sponsor in America. For more than 61 years, we have welcomed over one million participants from 140+ countries, and each year we continue to support more than 30,000 participants -- be it high school students, summer work and travel participants, camp counselors, interns, and trainees who come to the United States to experience American culture firsthand helping make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
That legacy is built on trust, quality, and a deep commitment to participant success. At CIEE, the safety, success, and satisfaction of our participants are our highest priorities. Every host employer, host family, or host school, goes through a rigorous vetting and monitoring process to ensure a safe, meaningful, and rich cultural experience.
To learn more about CIEE’s commitment to a careful and rigorous vetting process, ongoing quality assurance and monitoring, and gold-standard 24/7 participant support, read here.