Host a Student - Change the World

It is not every day that an average American family gets the  opportunity to make a real contribution toward making the world a  better place in which to live.  But such opportunities do actually exist.  For example, every year thousands of foreign students come to study in American high schools to learn about life in America and to  perfect their English skills.  These exchange students arrive through  a variety of private and government sponsored programs, and they live as a family member with volunteer host families. One of these
programs is Pacific Intercultural Exchange.

Pacific Intercultural Exchange (PIE) is a nonprofit agency that  facilitates high school foreign exchange. PIE is a fully accredited  agency that has been awarded a grant to administer the U.S. State  Department's YES (Youth Exchange & Study) scholarship students from the mid east, and a similar program called FLEX (Future Leader  Exchange) for students from the former USSR.  They also match hundreds of students each year working with sister organizations in foreign countries.

Host families are volunteers!  The students have their own spending money and medical insurance through the program.   A host family accepts the student into their home and family just as one of their own for an academic school year. Host  families provide  a loving home environment, reasonable supervision and guidance, meals and their own room or a room shared with a host sibling the same sex who is at least 10 years old.

Host families come in all shapes and sizes, and come from all different backgrounds.  They can be young (25 years or older  required) and with or without children of  their own. Host parents can be older empty nesters, senior citizens,  and many are single parents. The make up of the family does not really matter.  What really counts is a willingness to welcome the  student into your home as a family member, to be a parent for up to a school year, and be willing to provide parental guidance, meals, and a comfortable place to sleep.

About 20 P.I.E. students have attended or graduated from Dennis Yarmouth Regional High School since 1988, most at or near the top of  the class.  These students have come from such diverse countries as Germany, Sweden, Norway, Macedonia, Russia, and Ukraine among others.  Students selected for foreign exchange are academically above average students who are screened and selected because of their maturity,  ability to adapt to a new culture, their desire to learn about the  United States, and to improve their English.

They wish to learn  from and, and share their knowledge and culture with their host families and fellow students. Most students consider their exchange year as the  best year of their life and credit their host families as one of  their strongest influences in life. Although the exchange only lasts for a  year, it is not uncommon for the friendships formed during the  exchange to last a lifetime.

PIE students who attended Dennis Yarmouth Regional High School over the years for example; include the Director of Marketing and Communications for  the Far East for German automaker BMW, a Trauma Room Physician at a major hospital in Germany, a former member of the Macedonian Special Forces  who is now National Sales Manager for a major cosmetics company, an Internet security expert for Price Waterhouse, business consultants  working with major international fortune 500 companies as clients.   

Another owns his own Flat Screen TV store in Sweden and three more are graduating from various colleges this spring including one from Babson College who just graduated Summa Cum Laude - Honors Program from Babson College.  Perhaps the most famous of all exchange students who lived in Massachusetts during their exchange year is King Abdullah II of Jordan, a graduate of Deerfield Academy who remains involved with the school to this day.

Pacific Intercultural Exchange presently has two excellent exchange students in need of a host family to join in eastern Massachusetts. They are a girl from Armenia and a boy from Kuwait.  

Prospective host families should consider inviting 16 year old Larisa  from Armenia to join them for mutual richly rewarding experience.  She  is an exceptional FLEX scholarship student with good English skills  and an above average academic rating. She enjoys playing volleyball, ping pong and badminton. She also likes sewing, listening to pop  music, camping and watching movies. Like all exchange student, she has medical insurance through  the program and her own spending money.

At this time, PIE is also seeking a volunteer host family for a young man  from Kuwait named Ahmad. We must secure the host family commitment by June 15th, although he does not arrive until August 10.

Ahmad is 15 and enjoys playing soccer and basketball and is looking  forward to being allowed to participate on a school team. In Kuwait  he is not allowed to play as he is not a native born Kuwaiti. Ahmad wants to see snow and learn how to ski or snowboard. He also enjoys water parks, amusement parks, and going to the mall with his friends.