For some alumni, the influence of their ASSIST year can be traced remarkably clearly to what came next. When Chi Nguyen (ASSIST ‘19), from Vietnam, arrived at The Waterford School in Utah in 2018, science was not yet a particular passion. Then she took Honors Chemistry with Dr. Osipovitch. Before she returned home, he left her with a simple suggestion: give chemistry another good chance.

She did.

“That ‘good chance’ has brought me way further than my 15-year-old self could have ever imagined,” she reflects.

Today, Chi is entering her sixth year in the United States as a PhD student in Chemistry at MIT. Looking back, she credits her ASSIST experience not only with sparking an interest in science, but with teaching her to be comfortable being a beginner - a mindset that continued to shape her exploration as an undergraduate at Vassar College and now as a scientist.

Jeannie Cao (ASSIST ‘07) recalls arriving from Hungary for an ASSIST year at The Putney School in Vermont in 2006-07. An anatomy class introduced an entirely different approach to learning: getting outside the classroom, examining animal tracks, and dissecting sheep eyes and pig hearts.

It was unlike anything she had experienced in school before.

The experience helped crystallize an emerging interest in medicine. Today, she is a pediatric heart surgeon.

For Dora Kramar (ASSIST ‘17) from Croatia, it was a psychology teacher at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School who left the lasting impression. Her class with Mrs. Holly White helped shape Dora’s university choice and continues to influence the work she does in psychology today.

Different Scholars. Different subjects. Different destinations. But in each case, exposure to something new at exactly the right moment opened a possibility that continued long after the school year ended.

Not every lasting effect of an ASSIST year can be measured by a professional path.

For many alumni, the bigger change was learning what could happen when they stepped beyond what felt familiar.

José María Alcázar (ASSIST ‘07), from Spain, was 16 when he arrived at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C.. He remembers ASSIST teaching him how to adapt to another culture, and understand that the same problem can look very different depending on where you stand.

One of his most enduring lessons happened not in a classroom, but on a stage.

A shy teenager still adjusting to a new country and language, José auditioned for the school production of Grease. Singing and dancing in front of an audience felt like an enormous leap.

Afterward came a realization he still carries with him today: “Stepping outside your comfort zone, even when it’s uncomfortable, is often exactly how you grow.”

José later became a physician, eventually moving into healthcare leadership, quality, and patient safety. His work now takes him across Spain, Colombia, and Germany, where the ability to listen, understand different perspectives, and adapt across cultures remains central to what he does.

For Zuzanna Waleska (ASSIST ‘25), from Poland, the change is visible just two years after beginning her ASSIST experience at Santa Catalina School. Before her Scholar year, approaching a stranger, making a phone call, or organizing something could feel intimidating. Today, she sees those moments differently.

Her increased confidence has made her more willing to lead, take initiative, seek out new programs and language courses, and pursue opportunities to study abroad. ASSIST also helped prepare her for the demands of the IB Diploma Programme by strengthening skills like independent research, academic writing, and time management.

“My ASSIST year gave me countless good memories and broadened my horizons,” she reflects, “but its impact did not end when I returned home.”

Years later, the impact of ASSIST also shows up in what alumni choose to give back.

Davorka Lulic (ASSIST ‘05)] was 16 when she left Croatia to attend Cranbrook Schools in Michigan. She had traveled very little outside her home country and describes herself at the time as shy and hesitant to try new things.

Living abroad changed that.]

The experience pushed her outside her comfort zone, helped her become more independent, and gave her a confidence and openness that stayed with her long after she returned home. Her host family, the Dabrowskis, became an important part of that experience and a source of lasting gratitude.

Today, Davorka is an interventional cardiologist who is also involved in medical education and mentoring. She teaches students and colleagues and supports young people who come to Croatia on exchange - creating for others some of the same sense of welcome and possibility that once mattered so much to her.

“I believe that ASSIST, in a way, determined the path I took,” she says. “My ASSIST year really did change my life.”

For İdil Türkmen (ASSIST ‘24), from Turkey, ASSIST changed what she believed she could pursue.

At Loomis Chaffee, challenging courses in mathematics and physics strengthened her conviction that physics was the path she wanted to follow. She went on to study physics at Caltech, where she has become involved in particle-physics research, machine learning, computational physics, and AI, including her recent work on Higgs boson pair production.

The experience also gave her the confidence to keep pursuing ideas beyond the classroom. Her senior project, Vocam - an app designed to help people learn vocabulary from the world around them - continued to evolve after graduation and has since been submitted for Google Play production review.

“ASSIST didn’t just change where I studied next,” she explains. “It made me much more willing to pursue difficult ideas and keep working on them long after the original opportunity ended.”

And sometimes, the most lasting impact is personal.

Nearly two decades after his ASSIST year, José still considers his American host family part of his own. He traveled to California for his host brother’s wedding, and years later, members of that family traveled to Spain to celebrate José’s wedding.

ASSIST, he says, did not simply give him a year abroad. It taught him how to enter another world, understand it, become part of it - and then bring that experience home.