Hosting a foreign exchange student with Academic Year in America (AYA) lets you welcome a young ambassador from another country to interact and exchange with your family and community. These young ambassadors take valuable insight and understanding of life in the U.S. when they return to their home countries.
There are so many reasons why hosting matters, not the least of which is sharing your life and experiences in America. AYA students are bright, engaged high school students from around the world. They are eager to see and experience how life in the U.S. is similar to or different from their life at home.
Along these lines of why hosting matters, AYA students become beacons of understanding through sharing personal experiences and perspectives during their time in the U.S. and when they return home with firsthand knowledge of America. Not only do you gain a connection with someone from another country, but you also give a foreign student the chance to make connections in your community. All parties are empowered through your decision to host a foreign student to participate in cultural exchange, educational enrichment and international dialogue.
When you decide to welcome an AYA student into your home, you open up a world of opportunity. Without host families, the thousands of students who have studied in the U.S. through AYA wouldn’t have had the opportunity, and thousands more will miss out. At a time when cross-cultural and international communication is so vital to our society, their lack of opportunity would be a loss to us all.
If you are interested in cultural exchange, we encourage you to learn more about why hosting matters and to learn more about AYA students. Feel free to leave a comment or reach out with any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!
Regan Dulin says
This was our first year hosting an exchange student. There were many and few reasons we did this, the most common two being: our oldest son had graduated high school and moved out to go to college, leaving an empty room and the realization that we had missed the opportunity to bring an exchange student into our home before he left.
Having three sons, we have often wondered what it would be like to have a daughter, so we chose to request a girl. In a whirlwind we found Phillis, requested an exception from the school for a late allowance (district policy states request needed to be made in May, it was June but we had started the search in May), background checks and the awaited email of “Congratulations” came. We were so excited to get to speak to “our girl” a week or so later.
Phillis has made many friends, and has wanted to participate in as many “American” experiences as she can. She joined a sport she had never played and had fun on the Volleyball team. She went to homecoming with her girlfriends. She has volunteered at a horse ranch on a regular basis. We are preparing for prom, spring break in California and our birthdays (three of us in one month).
She has weathered some hardship like a champ and been a bright shining star through it all: the suicide of a classmate and host-mom’s illness and brief hospitalization. She has gone from being an only child to having 3 host brothers. They are the ones who asked to have another exchange student!
Fast forward, now we only have three months left with her. Phillis has enriched out lives immensely, bringing her humor, her candor and her common sense. There are some things AYA shared as typical traits that she lives up to and so many that are uniquely “her”. She has been such an excellent ambassador of the program, that when we decided we wanted to host another student, they did not hesitate, and accepted the request right away. The school administrators stated they have really enjoyed Phillis this year and look forward to another.
We will miss her, but feel we have gained another family member and already are discussing when we will see each other in the future.