Zionsville Community High School has received a plaque of appreciation from the U.S. Dept. of State for hosting three students from Kosovo and Liberia through the YES program during the 2016-17 school year. The YES program offers a competitive grant to students from countries with a significant Muslim population. [...] “The focus of these programs is to encourage diplomacy for future generations in hope of fostering a more peaceful world,” said Jan Ellis, local coordinator. Diella Ymeraga, 17, a Kosovo exchange student, described ZCHS as a good and open-minded community. 

Set for March 25, the game – Kosovo against Iceland – is part of the first round of qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. But it is much more than a simple football match. Sports diplomacy has been the most successful strategy implemented by Kosovo to garner international recognition. It’s been nine years since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, after Kosovo Albanians sought independence during the Yugoslavian wars. 

Kosovo always enjoyed a special relationship with the United States. After Trump’s election, however, a resurgent Russia (Serbia’s backer) and an intransigent United States puts the special relationship at-risk. [...] Kosovo must demonstrate its value to the Trump administration. Greater security cooperation would serve Trump’s “America First” agenda. It would also advance Kosovo’s interests.

Kosovo has been in a visa liberalization dialogue with the EU for nearly five years now, and has been working towards this goal for much longer than that. Its neighbors in the region have all but forgotten what they went through over six years ago, by now so used to this basic freedom. Is Kosovo so different from its neighbors? 

A stunning mural featuring a medley of cubes and symbols, painted on a backdrop of red and blue, now graces the Swansea Recreation Center, on the wall next to the swimming pool. It’s more than a colorful addition to the building — it’s the work of a group of artists from Kosovo who joined forces with local artists to show the power of reconciliation and kinship.

On Tuesday, UEFA finally rubber-stamped Kosovo's full membership in the European football family, marking the end of a journey that began in earnest almost 25 years ago, when a handful of rebels split from the game in federal Yugoslavia and started their own football league in the mud and marshes of this embattled Balkan republic.