NORTH POWDER — Mya Deas immediately searched the internet when she learned her destination with the American Exchange Project.

Deas, 18, lives in Toms River, New Jersey.

Her exchange was to North Powder, the small town in Eastern Oregon on Union County’s southern border.

“I looked it up and I saw bare. It looked like the wild, wild West,” she said.

Jenny Santana, a 19-year-old from Dallas, Texas, mistook North Powder for another town.

“I thought I was going to Newport,” she said.

Although the six teenagers who arrived in North Powder with the American Exchange Project were a bit hesitant about this rural town, it didn’t take long to change their minds.

“We have to leave this beautiful view,” Deas said. “I’m all about this life — I want to stay here.”

“I never want to go home,” Sam Smith, 18, said on July 15, the morning after the group camped at the base of the Elkhorn Mountains.

Smith is from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Also part of the exchange was Bernardo Cruz from Nashville, Tennessee, Hunter Andrix from Bellefontaine, Ohio, and Ben Sessa from Portland, Maine.

The American Exchange Project is a two-week program that includes a Travel Week, when the students visit a town very different from their own, and a Hometown Week, when they host visiting students and show what they love about their own communities.

Molly Smith, principal at North Powder School District, learned about the program in the fall of 2024 and presented the idea to school staff. She said everyone agreed it would be a good opportunity. Art teacher Jessie Street became the exchange manager to recruit Powder students and plan activities for the Hometown Week.

Street said the experience was a “baptism by fire.”

“It’s a lot of work, and it’s a lot of reward,” she said.

She is passionate about travel and would love to see more students have the opportunity to visit other places.

“A lot of my students graduate without ever having left the state,” she said.

The program is available to graduating seniors, and seven North Powder students — out of the graduating class of 21 — signed up.

The exchange is free to the school and students. Rosie Martel-Foley, vice president of revenue and development, said donors support the American Exchange Project, and the Oregon Community Foundation funded this year’s program in North Powder and Grants Pass.

The project, in its fifth year, works with 54 high schools in 32 states. This year, nearly 550 students participated in an exchange.

“We want to be in every state,” Martel-Foley said.

“We want a domestic exchange experience to become as common as prom,” said Lacey Buck, vice president of operations. “We think this should be available to all graduating high school students.”

Beyond North Powder

The North Powder students spent their travel week in different places. Tacey Warren went to Little Rock, Arkansas, Hannah Vaughan visited Nashville, Delia Balderas-Villagrana experienced humid heat in Naples, Florida, Alan Bedolla went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, Katelynn Blood visited New York City, Keeyion McClaughry went to Montpelier, Vermont, and Raul Barajas explored history in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

“I’m so excited to go to Pennsylvania,” Barajas said July 15, the day before he left. “I’ve never been on a plane.”

Bedolla, who will play soccer this fall at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, experienced art and nature in New Mexico and attended his first professional soccer match. Warren visited museums and historic sites in Little Rock, and said she was excited about the friends she made through the program.

“Traveling around is a good way to see how other people live,” she said.

Ryan Brasseaux, chief impact officer with the American Exchange Project, said the program is designed to expose students to communities vastly different from their own, while meeting new people and trying something new.

“They learn to think critically, and learn about themselves. How do you build a relationship with a person who’s not like you?” he said. “Had I not seen it, I would not have believed the impact. It’s astonishing.”

The destinations are assigned so teens from small towns experience a large city, and the city youths learn about rural life.

“You get to meet someone who lives in a radically different place than your own,” Brasseaux said.

Exploring Eastern Oregon

The visitors arrived July 9 in North Powder and learned how to ride a horse. The next day they visited the Rovey Goat Farm in Cove, picked huckleberries near Catherine Creek and soaked at Hot Lake Springs. July 11 featured a jet boat tour in Hells Canyon, and July 12 included rock climbing at Eastern Oregon University and experiencing the Elgin Stampede rodeo.

The group headed to Wallowa Lake on July 13, and then to Anthony Lake on July 14 to paddleboard, hike and fish. Their final full day, July 15, was back at North Powder to work in the school garden as part of the program’s community service component.

Nearly everyone said Hells Canyon was the highlight of their stay.

“I’ve never done anything like that,” said Sessa, from Maine. “Everything was so beautiful.”

For Cruz, from Nashville, Wallowa Lake was his favorite part.

“I’ve never seen a lake so clean, so pristine, and surrounded by mountains,” he said.

Street had a budget, which was supplemented with local donations and discounts from local businesses. Also, several local families hosted the visiting students.

“The community shows up for the kids all the time,” Street said. “Support from local businesses made these outings possible.”

Balderas-Villagrana, who traveled from North Powder to Florida, encouraged seniors to take this chance if it’s offered.

“A hundred percent,” she said. “Even if they’re really shy. This experience taught me to come out of my shell and my comfort zone.”