With high school classes starting back up after the winter
break, Pacific Intercultural Exchange is seeking host families to
take in four foreign exchange students scheduled to spend some time
studying in San Benito County.
Hollister – With high school classes starting back up after the winter break, Pacific Intercultural Exchange is seeking host families to take in four foreign exchange students scheduled to spend some time studying in San Benito County.
Each of the four students – who will travel from Korea, Germany and Brazil – need to have host families in the area lined up before they can enroll in one of the local schools, according to Elvia Meza, information department manager for PIE.
All of the students are between 15 and 18-years-old and speak limited English, according to a written statement. The students also have health and accident insurance as well as spending money. All they need are homes, Meza said, and as soon as possible.
“It gets harder to get the schools to accept them the later it is in the semester,” she said.
There is no typical host family, according to PIE. Hosts can be a large family, single parent or a retired or childless couple. Potential host families, who ultimately get to pick their student, meet with a PIE representative, submit personal references and undergo a background check, Meza said. Host families receive no financial compensation, but they are eligible to claim a $50 a month charitable contribution deduction on their tax returns for each month they host a student.
Last semester, San Benito High School had three foreign exchange students from Japan and Germany. Anzar High School, near San Juan Bautista, had one from Poland.
Meza said that hosting a foreign exchange student is an enriching opportunity that increases peoples’ understanding of different cultures.
“They have misconceptions about us just as we do about them,” Meza said. “Hosting people from another country clears those misconceptions.”
AYUSA International, another foreign exchange organization, is seeking host families as well. Ruth Erickson, AYUSA’s local representative, said the organization is in need of host families for students who will be studying in San Benito County this September.
German exchange student Thibaut Mueller, 16, will study at SBHS this semester through AYUSA. Mueller, who arrived in California on Dec. 29, said he is participating in the program because he wanted to try something new, take up Spanish and learn more about the United States.
“I’m very interested in getting to know the United States, especially,” he said. “You are the most important country in the world.”
Though moving to a new country, meeting new people and attending an unfamiliar school are somewhat daunting, Mueller said he has been warmly received in San Benito and he expects the semester to go smoothly. He will spend his time here living with county residents Roger and Michelle Chicoine and their 10-year-old son Nicholas.
The Chicoines said they decided to host a student so their son could see what it was like to have an older brother and expose him to a different culture. And so far things have been great.
“He fits in very well with our family,” Roger Chicoines said.
Like Meza, Erickson said that foreign exchange programs are as enlightening for the host as they are for the visiting student.
“This is a global economy now. Students need to be part of a global family, a global universe,” she said. “It’s like a living geography lesson. Instead of seeing it on TV or reading it in a book, you’re learning it from that person. The multicultural experience is something that will change you forever.”
If you are interested in hosting a student immediately call Pacific Intercultural Exchange at (888) 743-8721. For more information about hosting a student in the fall through AYUSA International call Ruth Erickson at (831) 637-0987.
