Mya Deas, from Toms River, New Jersey, pulls weeds at the North Powder school garden on July 15, 2025. Deas and five others from across the country spent a week in North Powder with the American Exchange Project. Weeding was part of the program’s community service component — the students also visited Wallowa Lake, Anthony Lake, and rode a jet boat in Hells Canyon. (Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald)

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, Oregon.

“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 Oregon 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.

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, and art teacher Jessie Street became the exchange manager to recruit Powder students and plan activities for the Hometown Week.

The program is available to seniors, and seven 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 the American Exchange Project is supported by donors, 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, 500 students participated in an exchange.

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

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 Civil War history in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

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

Ryan Brasseaux, chief impact officer with the American Exchange Project, said it 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 kids learn about rural life.

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

The visitors arrived in North Powder on July 9 and learned how to ride a horse. The next day they visited the Rovey Goat Farm in Cove, picked huckleberries 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. Everything was so beautiful,” said Sessa, from Maine.

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.”