Succes Stories
Amerigo Partnership Profile
As a full-service international student placement and support organization, Amerigo was in its fourth year of operations, with students from 23 countries enrolled. “We partner with U.S.-based private high schools that don’t have a boarding solution but want to have international students,” Schnieders said.
At any given point in time, Amerigo has dozens of students abroad who are at varying stages in their journey to come to the U.S. – some still deciding and some packing their bags! Such was the case for prospective students in fall of 2019.
Then in January 2020, COVID hit. The Amerigo team initially thought they could switch to an online model for a couple of months and then everything would go back to normal.
“That changed quickly,” Schnieders said. “In February of 2020, it looked suddenly like our U.S. high schools might move to online or hybrid mode before the end of the academic year.”
Amerigo needed an online learning solution with the quality that their international families expected and the support that Amerigo had come to embody. Besides academic support, Amerigo provides enrichment, English language support, and extracurricular activities. They also help students explore college and career choices, set goals, and navigate the process of applying for college admissions.
“ASU Prep Digital will work in a variety of different modes – and that was an attraction. They could offer courses taught by their teachers, but we could also transition to our teachers over time – so there was lots of flexibility in how we partnered.”
Amerigo placed more than 200 students abroad in ASU Prep Digital courses. What started as a contingency plan soon became an interesting new offering. Students could begin or continue their American high school experience while still overseas.
Students enrolled into the online program and worked directly with ASU Prep Digital teachers. Amerigo team members met online with each student weekly to discuss and monitor their progress.
“We see our partnerships as a real collaborative effort to pinpoint the desired learning experience and co-design for it,” said Angela Zhao, ASU Prep Digital’s Director of International Programs. “We can scale up quickly and create solutions localized to each situation.”
“For context,” Schnieders noted, “schools in places like Vietnam, China, and Russia re-opened after a few months, so many of these students had the option to go to school in their own countries, but they chose the online option with Amerigo anyway.”
The Amerigo team now views the whole experience as an opportunity to consider new ways to serve its students. They are considering how they might use online learning to augment their offerings through options such as summer acceleration or enrichment programs.
College prep is another area ripe for rethinking. Amerigo liked the concurrent college courses available through ASU Prep Digital, as well as the flexible college pathways. In addition, students connected in surprising ways as they became comfortable collaborating online. One of Amerigo’s clubs has about 60 students from all over the world working together on service projects.
Thanks to the partnership with ASU Prep Digital, students stayed on track to earn their American high school diploma, gain access to college courses and finish out the year seamlessly.
“The vast majority of Amerigo graduates this year were admitted to Top 100 universities (U.S. News rankings),” Schnieders noted, “Kids are going to great schools—and that was the point for parents. These are kids learning in their non-native language in a modality they hadn’t intended,” Schnieders said. “Who is ASU Prep Digital made for? It’s kids like this.”
