Coming to live in a new country with a new family can feel both scary and exciting for high school exchange students. Often, what defines a successful exchange year depends on whether the student learns to feel at home in the U.S. with their host family. When students feel welcomed, included, and treated like part of the family, they’re more likely to thrive throughout their exchange program.
So how can host families make an exchange student feel at home in the U.S.? While it looks a little different in every household and for every student, it often comes down to treating the exchange student like family. That means including them in everyday moments, family routines, and traditions while helping them feel that they truly belong in your home and in your family. Below, we’ll explore how to make an exchange student feel at home, using examples from AYA Host Family of the Year nominations.
What helps an exchange student feel at home? These host family stories show how belonging begins in everyday life.
Belonging Begins with Inclusion
For exchange students, arriving in a new country means adjusting to unfamiliar customs, schools, and communities. A welcoming host family that helps the exchange student feel at home can make this transition easier—and much more enjoyable.
When host families include students in family decisions, activities, traditions, and daily life—instead of treating them like guests—they send a powerful message: you are part of this family.
Vicki from Germany experienced this firsthand with the Tichy family of North Dakota. Already preparing to host one exchange student, the family learned that another student from Spain urgently needed a home just days before the school year began. Before saying yes, they gathered as a family, including their son and exchange student, to discuss the opportunity together—a simple gesture that showed Vicki his opinion mattered.
As Vicki noted, their decision transformed their home into a busy household of three teenage boys from different backgrounds, but what stood out most was the sense of belonging they created:
“With the start of school only days away, the Tichys sat down with their own teenage son and their German student to make a collective family decision. Their unanimous ‘yes’ turned a small home into a bustling hub for three teenage boys… The Tichy family embodies the spirit of international exchange by putting the needs of the students first and ensuring that, despite the ‘big appetites’ and crowded rooms, every boy felt like they truly belonged. They are the gold standard of what a host family should be.”
Sharing in Everyday Moments
Many prospective host families worry they’ll need to constantly entertain their students or plan extraordinary experiences to make the exchange year special. In reality, the best host family experiences are often the most authentic ones—when families welcome students into their lives and share everyday moments together.
Hanan, an exchange student from Thailand, described how the simple routines she shared with her Texas host family became some of her most cherished memories. The family spent time together every day, playing board games, watching movies, sharing meals, and talking about their experiences. As Hanan explained, it was the ordinary moments spent with the Resendez family that felt most special:
“We always spend time together, literally every day. We like to play board games, card games, and watch classic American movies. Me and my host mom both really enjoy watching musicals together… [Family dinner] really meant a lot to me because everyone talks about their day, and that’s the beauty of dinner time… This is the charm of an ordinary family that made my exchange year a truly special one.”
For Hanan, relaxed evenings and dinner conversations became opportunities to connect, share stories, and enjoy mutual interests. What may seem ordinary to a U.S. host family often becomes the memory a studenttreasures most.
Supporting Students like Family
Another common thread is the way families show up for their students’ interests, activities, and goals. The Tichy family exemplified this commitment. Even with three teenage boys who played baseball, basketball, football, and track and field, the host parents didn’t let the number of games and events stop them from being there for each of them:
“Whether it was academics, volunteering in the community, a local school competition or a state-level event, the Tichys were there, providing the steady support and encouragement needed to help all three boys excel in their sports and activities.”
Supporting students isn’t only about showing up for big moments like academic events and sports games. Often, listening closely and offering steady, caring encouragement is what makes students feel like family. Antonia from Egypt described how her host mom would always take time out of her day to listen and make her feel valued:
“[My host mom] cares for me with so much love and sincerity. The bond we shared is very special and we are like two peas in a pod. She has supported me, listened to me, and made me feel valuable every day.”
Greta from Germany experienced this same kind of care with the Starr family, where she felt protected and cared for like she was one of their own:
“From the moment I first set foot in my new home, I felt HOME. Even the little things gave me that sense of family: ‘good night, sweetheart,’ bringing me medicine and tea when I was sick, or sometimes folding my laundry while I was at school. What touched me the most was when I was confronted again with problems involving my previous host family, my host father protected me like his own child.”—Greta from Germany, hosted by the Starr family.
Creating a Home Away from Home
One of the most rewarding aspects of hosting is watching relationships grow beyond an exchange student’s year in the U.S. Many AYA host families remain connected to their students long after the program ends. They visit one another, talk on the phone or videochat, celebrate milestones together, and continue relationships that began around a kitchen table or during a family road trip.
Hanan joined the Resendez family “that has been hosting students all over the world for 20 years,” she noted. Years after they depart, former students still regularly return to visit, and the family sometimes travels abroad to see them.
These kinds of long-lasting relationships are often the hallmark of a great host family and a meaningful host family experience, developing naturally when families welcome their exchange students with open arms and help them feel at home. They’re a reminder that home isn’t always a place, but something we find in the people whom we care for and who care for us—no matter where in the world we are.
Help an exchange student feel at home in the U.S.—host an exchange student with AYA!
The nominations for the AYA Host Family of the Year reveal that making a home for an exchange student isn’t about grand gestures. Often, all it takes is sharing your life with them and helping them feel like they belong.
Interested in hosting an exchange student? Learn how you can welcome a student into your family and create a life-changing experience for both your household and a young person from across the world.
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