The second stop of CIEE’s year-long, nationwide roadshow celebrates Xanterra and Big Sky employers as exceptional supporters of the U.S. Department of State’s BridgeUSA Program
PORTLAND, Maine, July 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) will travel to Montana and Wyoming July 21-24 for the second leg of a year-long, nationwide celebration of U.S. Department of State’s BridgeUSA international exchange programs that make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
In June, the CIEE BridgeUSA Celebration Tour began in Ohio and Kentucky with stops at the iconic Cedar Point Amusement Park, the famous Kings Island Amusement Park, and family-favorite Kentucky Kingdom. The Mountain West portion of the tour will feature celebration events in Yellowstone National Park and Big Sky, Montana.
At each stop in Montana and Wyoming, CIEE will showcase how BridgeUSA improves the lives of all Americans by creating rich cultural exchanges for international visitors that boost America’s image abroad, enhance economic opportunities for American businesses, and enrich American communities.
The BridgeUSA Summer Work Travel program brings international college students to live and work in the United States during their summer break, helping more than 4,000 businesses, large and small, across the United States expand and extend the tourist season, leading to enhanced local economic benefits while injecting more than $1.2 billion into the broader U.S. economy each year.
This leg of the CIEE BridgeUSA Celebration Tour will honor top employers who host BridgeUSA Summer Work Travel participants in America’s Big Sky Country, including Xanterra Travel Collection, an American company that provides concession services within Yellowstone and other national parks. Business leaders, local community advocates, and individual exemplary staff will be recognized with the CIEE BridgeUSA Champion Award for their contributions to strengthening their local communities while advancing American interests.
“BridgeUSA Summer Work Travel participants support the staffing needs of businesses in remote locations where there is not enough year-round local staff,” said Martine Mangion, Senior Vice President, Inbound Exchange Programs at CIEE. “In the Yellowstone region, for example, finding enough local staff is a constant challenge. BridgeUSA students help fill critical seasonal roles, allowing businesses to stay open, be more prosperous, and ensure visitors can experience the beauty of this beloved American landscape.”
“We simply would not be able to serve millions of guests a year without BridgeUSA Summer Work Travel participants,” said Noel Mayes, Executive Director of Operations at Yellowstone National Park Lodges, part of Xanterra Travel Collection. “Meeting, working side by side with, and sharing a passion for Yellowstone with students from all over the world is truly special.”
BridgeUSA Makes America Safer and Stronger
BridgeUSA programs bolster America’s national security and strengthen America’s public diplomacy by fostering mutual respect between Americans and people of other nations. BridgeUSA participants return home and spread word of their positive experience in the United States which improves the American image abroad and makes our country safer.
BridgeUSA Makes America More Prosperous
Most importantly, BridgeUSA participants enable local economies to prosper by expanding and extending the tourism season, allowing businesses to employ more Americans for a longer seasonal period, and allowing hundreds of local businesses—from laundromats to general stores, from local diners to grocery stores—to extend the duration of their peak-season sales surge, compounding the positive economic impact in each community.
“The core premise of the BridgeUSA program is that international students come to America at their own expense on temporary visas to help American businesses and American communities thrive,” said James P. Pellow, president and CEO of CIEE. “BridgeUSA students pay their way to come to America, they help 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.”
Additional CIEE BridgeUSA Celebration events are scheduled for later this summer:
- August 2025 – We celebrate BridgeUSA in South Carolina at Myrtle Beach
- September 2025 – We celebrate BridgeUSA in Texas at the Alamo in San Antonio
If you are interested in participating in a future CIEE BridgeUSA Celebration event, please reach out to Carye Duffin, CIEE Senior Vice President of External Affairs, at CDuffin@ciee.org.
About CIEE:
CIEE builds bridges between different people, different countries, and different cultures. For 75 years, we have helped young people participate in high-quality international exchange and study abroad programs that bring the world together. Since 1947, CIEE has supported more than one million student exchanges for participants from more than 140 countries. We change lives, our alumni change the world. Learn more at ciee.org.
Media Contact: Leslie Taylor, ltaylor@ciee.org, (207) 553-4274
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ciee-bridgeusa-celebration-tour-to-visit-montana-and-wyoming-to-highlight-how-bridgeusa-improves-the-lives-of-all-americans-302503515.html
SOURCE Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE)
