It all started in 1950 with an idea formed by Doris Allen, a psychologist at the University of Cincinnati (USA), who wondered, “How can I make the world a better place?”.  She had a vision to have children of the world come together to form friendships so that they could get to know each other, learn from each other, understand different cultures, and have an outcome of a better world.

Doris wanted to start an organization with this mission in mind. She believed that creating opportunities for children from different countries to get together and get to know each other as citizen ambassadors would help to break down stereotypes. She started a program called Children International Summer Villages (CISV).  The first Village program was held in Cincinnati in 1951 bringing together young people from Australia, France, Norway, Britain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Mexico, and the United States.  These summer villages have been a gathering place for students around the world in a summer camp atmosphere for a few weeks each year. The program continues to hold its summer camps around the world to this day.

Though the program was successful, Doris wished to expand the program and reach more children, especially at the elementary level.  The summer villages brought older students together in one place for a few weeks.  The new concept was to have delegations of 10-12 year old students from one school in one country travel together with a chaperone or two to a school in another country.  Each child and chaperone would stay in separate host homes for three weeks.  The students would attend school with their hosts each day and learn first hand what life is like in the host’s home and school.  The student ambassadors would attend classes with their hosts, visit other classes, conduct classroom presentations for as many grades as possible, and present a cultural program at an all school assembly.  The more opportunities the students would have to meet students at the host school, the more everyone involved would learn about and appreciate the different cultures.  This new program developed into the International School to School Experience (ISSE) for elementary school exchanges in 1971, and except for a brief hiatus due to COVID-19, continues to offer exchanges between member schools.