Friday, May. 16, 2008
Foreign Exchange Families Sad to Say Goodbye
By Linda Taylor
Contributing Writer
Bilton is the state coordinator for North Texas for the American Scandinavian Student Exchange program, and as such, helps match students who want to live in America for a school year with host families willing to share their homes and lives with a student from another country.
"Our primary objective is that the student and the host family be a good fit," Bilton said. "We have a large database and many profiles of both students and host families. We do our best to make sure we find the perfect family for each student and the perfect student for each family interested in hosting."
ASSE began in 1976 as an organization arranging exchanges between students and families in the United States and Scandinavian countries. The organization now includes 35 countries that host and send students to other countries for a school year.
"Our biggest challenge is finding host families," Bilton said. "But being a host family is a wonderful learning experience for everyone."
And Bilton would know, because she and her family are currently hosting 17-year-old Marius Bauer from Germany.
She said she knows that June will be difficult because their student will be returning home.
"He has become a member of our family," Bilton said. "It will be hard to see him go home."
Host families must go through a screening process and background check to be considered as candidates. Beyond that, they are required to provide the student with three meals a day and a place to sleep. And of course, a family atmosphere.
"The students come with their own spending money and insurance," Bilton said. "They also have some rules they must follow, such as keeping their grades up and not being allowed to drive a car while they are here. Other than that, they just become a part of the family."
Cindy Stovall and her family of Grapevine have 17-year-old Jenny Krueger of Germany, living with them. They chose a German student because of their ties to that country.
"For some time, my husband was traveling to Germany about three weeks of each month," Stovall said. "We just fell in love with the people and the culture. We thought hosting an exchange student would allow us to experience another culture while we were helping someone else experience our culture."
Stovall said Jenny has bonded with their 8-year-old son, cooks German dishes and is enjoying her year in the United States.For Kate Bondar of Russia, who is living with Eric and Janet Popeil of Southlake, the similarities between her life in Russian and her life in Southlake outweigh the differences.
Although attending Carroll Senior High School as a junior has kept Bondar busy, she has had time to visit some of the historical sites in Texas. She said she likes the size of Texas and also the weather.
"It changes every day," Bondar said.
Louis Massot, 18, is staying with Doug and Kristi Weller of Grapevine. Massot, who is from France, said he finds Texas "really big."
"I am a big fan of history and Texas has a really interesting history," Massot said. "I wanted to be an exchange student because I really like to travel in the U.S. This gave me a chance to see new things and live with an American family."
Massot said he has made many good friends during his time here and will miss them when he returns home in June.
The Wellers have found hosting an exchange student a wonderful, fulfilling experience.
"He has been just great," Kristi Weller said. "This has gone so well, we are already planning to host a girl from Germany during the next school year."
Bilton said she would like to encourage other families to think about hosting a foreign student for a year. She said the experience is a wonderful one that affects not just the host family, but neighbors and friends.
For more information, contact Pam Bilton at asse.pambilton@sbcglobal.net or 817-845-5520 or see www.asse.com.
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